Desert Wind
by Rebecca the Great
Summary: NOW COMPLETE! Something extremely odd is going on at Quatre\'s desert base. Features Psychic!Wufei, Denial!Duo, Possessed!Quatre, Nightmare!Heero, and Clueless!Trowa. Very mild shounen ai: 4+3, hints of 1+2.
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Ummm... It's a horror fic... I'm posting as I'm writing, so this might take a while. ^_^;; Bear with me, please?  
  
Thalia: And for the record, we muses had very little to do with it. It's not our fault.  
  
Eros: It's weird. You've been warned.  
  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. _ Wah! Thoughts are between * these * and ~ these ~ are for emphasis.  
  
  
  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
  
  
He stood alone in a place he hadn't been before. The sun beat down terribly, oppressive heat and light radiating off the dune beneath his feet. A hot, dry wind kicked dust and sand at him, stinging and prickling his skin. He turned around slowly, examining the scenery. It was the same in all directions, empty desert and sky.  
  
* This is a dream,* he realized, surprised and unnerved. He hadn't dreamt in a long time, and this dream felt... different. Significant.  
  
Then he heard a sound behind him. Jingling, tinkling. He whirled, drawing his gun from his waistband.  
  
The girl was shorter than him, with ice-blue eyes set in a gentle, round face. Her long blonde hair was tied in many small, thin braids, which in turn were woven through with ribbons, beads, bells, and feathers. Her only garment was a faded, dirty blue sundress, but she made up for it in jewelry. Each finger had at least one or two rings, as did a few of her unshod toes, and bands and bangles encircled wrists and ankles. Her ears were pierced seven times each, with an accumulation of shining metal practically dripping off of them. There were so many strings of beads and necklaces around her neck and spilling over her petite chest that he found himself wondering how her waif-like frame could support the weight.  
  
He aimed his gun between her eyes, though he had a distinct feeling that she was not a danger. She smiled at him, meeting his eyes with hers. He repressed a shiver, despite the sweltering heat. Those eyes... they could see his very soul...  
  
"Who are you?" he demanded. She looked familiar. He couldn't place the resemblence.  
  
"Look behind you," she said in a quiet, sweet voice that carried currents he couldn't fathom. Her dress billowed in the wind. Her glittering ornaments made sounds like wind chimes, throwing reflected motes of light dancing across him and her and the dunes.  
  
The wind howled hungrily across the desert. There was something different now. Something wrong. Something...  
  
He spun, his heart thudding in his chest.  
  
Where there had been nothing now was a large rocky plateau. It was topped by a huge mansion that should have looked out of place, it being done in a reasonable facsimile of the late Victorian style. Instead it seemed to have grown out of the desert itself.  
  
* Malgnant. *  
  
There was something... evil about it. Its many windows stared out across the sands like so many soulless eyes, hungry and haunted. It seemed to soak up all the heat and light, creating a strange sort of void around it. But there was no difference that he could ~see~... He knew it was there, but it wasn't there at all. It was thick like a blanket, and ominous. It held his gaze.  
  
With a conscious effort, he ripped his eyes away to look at the girl. She was gone, her tracks stretching across the dunes as far as he could see. He frowned in annoyance and quelled a sudden irrational panic. He did ~not~ want to be left alone with that... ~presence~ at his back. He was about to follow the trail when he noticed a shining thing in the sand where she'd been standing.  
  
It was a ring. Much too small for any of his fingers, it was plain gold with a single black oblong stone embedded in it. He closed his hand around it, feeling the metal bite into his skin.  
  
  
  
  
He woke with the taste of dust in his mouth and sweating like a winded horse, his skin feeling raw and sensitive. He did not remember the dream, or even that he ~had~ dreamed. But something was hot in his hand, hard and digging into his palm. Something half-remembered, something important... He uncurled his fingers, but found nothing. He turned over in his bed and went back to sleep.  
  
But had he looked closer at his hand, he would have seen a small red indentation shaped like a ring.  
  
  
  
  
END PROLOGUE  
  
  
  
  
Errr... Review?  
  



	2. Part One

Author's Note: Okay, this is my first ultra-serious series thingy. It's also my first horror fic. And I'm posting as I write, so it might take a while. Just bear with me, okay? ^_^  
  
Thalia: It's REALLY weird.  
  
Disclaimer: (Is this really even necessary?) I don't own Gundam Wing. No, really, I don't. I know how you can make that mistake, but seriously, it's not mine.  
  
  
  
  
PART ONE  
  
  
Though he woke slowly and unhurriedly, Quatre frowned drowsily in the predawn gray that filled his room. There was some odd thickness in his mind, some unease as the remnants of his dream swirled lazily around him like the mud at the bottom of a stagnant pond. He shifted on the bed, and a small noise, like that of a rodent scurrying, sounded from one corner of the room. This waked him fully, and the dream fell back into the depths of his subconscious.  
  
Not knowing what had awoken him, he sat up stretching and yawning. He was used to waking up early, as his last few missions had required this of him. He hadn't really been one for sleeping late in the first place, being a natural morning person. He smiled cheerfully and clambered off of his rather large and opulent bed. He had to get ready, the others were arriving today.  
  
It'd been a tough month. OZ had tripled their attempts to either kill or capture a Gundam pilot. And they'd come very close to succeeding, setting several traps at the bases that had appeared the easiest targets. Quatre had known that something had to be up when OZ seemed to be going lax, and had turned down a mission to the nearest supposed easy mark. This turned out to be wise, for had he gone to the base, he would have met up with an "unscheduled" shipment of seventy upgraded Leos. But the others hadn't been so lucky.  
  
Both Heero and Trowa had nearly self-detonated when they became cornered, but were saved in the nick of time by Duo and Wufei respectively. Quatre reflected guiltily on that a moment, sorry that he couldn't have helped. But he was in the Sahara, and those battles had been in South America and the middle of China. He couldn't have made it in time to be of any aid. This left all the Gundams in poor shape.  
  
So it'd been a godsend when the Maguanacs had managed to seize a huge shipment of mobile suit parts. The Arabian had wasted no time in contacting the others with invitations that he knew none would refuse. They had, of course, agreed to come, and would soon be here. Quatre, always the courteous host, had to prepare before that.  
  
After a quick refreshing shower and getting dressed, the Arabian made his way through the well-furnished halls of the old house that had been moved from somewhere in Europe to the oasis. It irked him slightly that his father was so rich as to uproot whole mansions and transport them across thousands of miles. It was a foolish display of wealth and power, especially since his father rarely left his satellite. But such wealth came in handy now, as much as Quatre didn't want to depend on his family.   
  
He reached the main kitchen after walking for about ten minutes. The men had already made breakfast and most had already eaten. Abdul and Rashid greeted him gruffly, as he helped himself to a plateful and a mug of strong coffee, then sat down at a table.  
  
"Quatre-sama," Rashid began. "We have completed repairs to our suits as well as to Sandrock."  
  
"Thank you, Rashid," Quatre said, truly grateful. "There ~are~ enough parts left for my comrades, right?"  
  
"Yes. And we have the hangar ready to begin those repairs as soon as the other pilots get here," Abdul said.   
  
"Good. I really can't thank you guys enough," Quatre replied, and would have continued, but his words were waved off. The two older men then excused themselves politely, having much work to do.   
  
After quickly finishing his breakfast, slurping the rest of his strong coffee noisily to cool it, he headed for the main hangar. The men had cleared four sections for the incoming gundams, and the various tools had been organized. Quatre oversaw the work for a moment from the top of the stairs that led down into the hangar itself before he was satisfied that things had run smoothly and would continue to do so. He turned to go, but someone pushed him from behind and he stumbled.  
  
Quick piloting reflexes saved him from tumbling down the metal staircase, his hand shooting out to grab the handrail. He steadied himself and stood, turning to see who had almost made him fall. There was no one there. He frowned. Where had they gone? The nearest people were at the foot of the steps, leaning on a workbench and laughing raucously, oblivious to him. None of them could have done it and gotten past him. He walked out the door cautiously, his hand going to the small pistol hidden under his vest at the small of his back. Something here wasn't right. Outside was already hot and bright, and a dry dusty wind whipped at his clothes. There was no one between here and the mansion across the courtyard.  
  
Quatre's frown became puzzled as he tucked the pistol away again. If there hadn't been anyone, how come he'd fallen? He must be more nervous than he thought about seeing the other pilots in a non-violent setting. He was just jumpy. He must've tripped. With a weak smile at himself, he decided he'd better go back inside the air-conditioned mini-palace before he got sweat stains on his shirt. It simply wouldn't do to greet his fellow pilots looking like he just came out of the sauna.  
  
Before he had even made it half of the way, a low roaring drew his attention to the east. Sure enough, two familiar shapes were speeding toward the oasis. He recognized Trowa's and Wufei's gundams easily, and ran back into the hangar to welcome them. They passed over his head, sending sand flying in stinging clouds around him as he ran. He practically flew inside and down the steps, the Maguanacs parting in front of him with bemused expressions at his eagerness.   
  
Trowa and Wufei descended as he came up to the feet of the gundams. Trowa hadn't changed from the last time Quatre had seen him, wearing a turtleneck and tight jeans with that same gravity-defying hair. Only the sling one of his arms was in attested to the fact that he had been in battles since. Wufei was unharmed, though he looked surly in his billowing white pants and blue tank top. He quirked an eyebrow as he approached, a faint twitch of his lips giving away his amusement.  
  
This caused Quatre a little flash of worry. He looked down at himself and barely resisted a groan. Thanks to the showy fly-by the other two teenagers had performed, he was covered from head to toe in dust, and he was certain his hair was likewise disheveled. He blushed embarrassedly, but went to meet them halfway.  
  
"Good morning!" he said cheerily. "It's good to see you two again. Welcome to our base."  
  
"Hello," Wufei began formally, bowing. "Thank you for extending to us the use of your base and equipment. It is good to see you as well."  
  
"Think nothing of it. What else would I do with all the spare parts?" he replied lightly, smiling.  
  
"Hello Quatre," Trowa said, blinking at him. For some reason, Trowa's regard made Quatre feel another blush coming on.  
  
"Hi Trowa. What happened to your arm?" he asked, hoping the dust would hide the rosy tint to his face.  
  
Trowa shrugged. "It was a foolish accident in battle."  
  
Beside him, Wufei smirked and raised an eyebrow. He looked about to say something. Trowa shot him a look and he subsided, but the smirk lingered. Quatre looked at them questioningly, but before he could voice anything, another loud rumbling from above alerted them to more arrivals even as the sensors registered two new mobile suits. Wing and Deathscythe landed amidst the other Maguanac suits. Deathscythe's hatch opened, and Duo ambled out, grinning and waving.  
  
"Oi, Quatre!" he called loudly. "Long time no see!"  
  
"You're telling me! How've you been, Duo?" Quatre replied as Duo swung gracefully to the ground via the safety cord.   
  
"Oh, can't complain. My buddy, though, now ~he~ needs some work," Duo said, waving a hand at his beloved gundam. "Thanks for the invite, man."  
  
"Ohayo," Heero intoned.   
  
Quatre barely managed not to jump at the sound of the Japanese boy's voice so near. He hadn't even noticed Heero exit Wing. He turned toward him with another smile.  
  
"Hi, Heero. Welcome, all of you. Have you had breakfast yet?"  
  
Wufei and Trowa both gave mute shakes of their heads, and Heero raised one shoulder in a gesture of indifference. Duo, on the other hand, tried to look pathetic while rubbing his midsection.  
  
"Thought you'd never ask, man. I'm ~starving~," he groaned.  
  
Quatre smiled. Asking them to follow him, he led the way out of the hangar. As soon as they were in the open yard, Heero, who'd been walking almost ahead of Quatre, stopped abruptly. Quatre turned to see him staring at the house, a strange almost-expression playing across his features. The blond was about to ask him what the matter was, but Duo cut him off with a low whistle.  
  
"Impressive. You done good, Q-man," he said approvingly.  
  
"Thank you," Quatre replied, glancing back at him before asking Heero, "What is it, Heero?"  
  
That snapped him back into his usual unreadable mode. "Nothing."  
  
Breakfast was interesting, to say the least, but it was also disturbing. The account Duo gave of the battle in South America perturbed Quatre greatly, as did Wufei's version of events in China. The modified Leos would be much tougher opponents in battle. He was very glad that the gundams would be in prime condition when they next attempted to attack. They couldn't afford to show weakness now, not when OZ and Romafeller were now extending their reach to the colonies -   
  
"Soooo, when's the grand tour?" Duo asked, leaning back in his chair at the table in the kitchen. "I call the master bedroom!"  
  
"Duo!" Quatre said in mock exasperation.  
  
"Oh, sorry. That's where you sleep, isn't it? Well, that's not necessarily a problem..." Duo teased with a big insinuating wink.  
  
"Duo!" he found himself repeating, the exasperation not as faked this time. "Do you guys actually want a tour, or would you just prefer to explore on your own?" he asked the others, trying to change the subject.  
  
"If it's not too much trouble..." Wufei offered after a moment's silence.  
  
Trowa nodded absently as Heero gave noncommital grunt.  
  
"No trouble at all," Quatre assured them.  
  
  
  
"And this is the basement. It's the newest part of the house, and the coolest. So if you ever get too hot, come down here," Quatre said, leading them down the carpeted steps. The stairwell was wide enough for them all to walk abreast of each other, but, as was the case for most of the tour, the others trailed behind at varying paces.  
  
"Hey! Is that an original Michelangelo, Q-ball?" Duo asked, pointing at a painting on the wall. Then he tilted his head and scratched his chin. "Or is it Monet? I always get those two mixed up."  
  
"It's neither," Wufei said after a quick glance over Duo's shoulder as he passed. "And how can you get Michelangelo confused with Monet?"  
  
"Well, they both start with 'M' don't they?" Duo said with a look of contrived idiocy.  
  
"Hn. Baka," Heero muttered.  
  
"I concur," Wufei said.  
  
"You guys are all against me. It's not fair," Duo pouted. Then he bounded forward, braid trailing behind him as he passed Quatre on the stairs.  
  
"Duo?" Quatre called, surprised.  
  
"Y'all are movin' to slow for my taste. See ya at the bottom!" he called over his shoulder as he made it to a landing and turned.  
  
The stairs before him were much more lavish, bedecked with rich red carpet in a widening sweep as the stretched toward the floor. It was noticeably cooler, even with the air conditioning upstairs. He slid irreverently down the polished wooden banister, leaping off before he could hit the carved gargoyle at the end of it. He looked around and nodded in approval.  
  
"Talk about swanky. This place is so cool!" he said to no one in particular.  
  
While not as antiquated as the upstairs, the basement seemed to be just as well decorated. The walls were covered with tasteful artwork, with a few scattered display cases showing off interesting sculptures. Couches, armchairs, and others bits of furniture were placed strategically around the large common room. Doors led off to other areas of the basement, and the wall that supported the staircase was lined with tall bookshelves full of books.   
  
"Must be a bitch to dust around here, though," he observed, moving farther into the room. "Those guys are sure taking their sweet time."  
  
He studied the books with only half-interested eyes. He liked books well enough, he guessed, but he preferred to be ~doing~ things, not reading about them. He scanned the room again, and listened hard. The guys really should've been there by now, but he couldn't even hear the echo of Quatre's voice. The place must have some sort of damper effect on sound.   
  
"This is sooo boooorrrriiiinnnggg," he moaned to fill the silence. It didn't much help. He crossed to a couch and flopped down on it. "Hurry up, you guys!"  
  
Still silence. Nothing was moving here. The sound of his breathing seemed an intrusion.  
  
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.  
  
Very slowly he sat up. He stood unhurriedly, and began to walk back towards the stairs, carefully not looking behind him. As soon as he reached the stairs, he began to quicken his pace. By the time he reached the landing, he was running.   
  
  
  
  
END PART ONE  
  
  
  
Eros: So, where are you going with this, exactly?  
  
Ummm...  
  
Thalia: If you don't get your act together, we're going to have to take this fic over.  
  
NOOOOOO! I promise I'll explain everything! Eventually. In the meantime...  
  
Eros: REEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW  
  
  



	3. Part Two

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, y'all. Been having a horrible week. Here's the next part.  
  
Psyche: It gets even weirder!  
  
And I pick on Duo a lot in this chapter. Sorry, don't hit me. He's not meant to come off as a little sissy wimpy-man, but... tell me if he does, okay? -_-;;  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing and such. * These are thoughts. * ~These are emphasized.~  
  
  
  
  
PART TWO  
  
  
  
Duo came pelting around the corner of the landing, running headlong into Trowa. The two startled boys fell in a heap on the floor. Quatre, who'd been walking beside the taller pilot, gave a startled exclamation.  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked, offering a hand to Trowa while Duo sprang to his feet.  
  
"I'm fine," Trowa replied tonelessly.  
  
"Sorry, Trowa. Didn't see you there," said Duo abashedly, shifting from one foot to the other.   
  
"It's okay. Just watch it next time."  
  
Heero and Wufei joined them on the landing.   
  
"I thought you were going to wait for us at the bottom," Wufei stated blandly.  
  
"Well, I ~was~ waiting, but you guys were taking ~forever~!" Duo whined, trying to hide his agitation. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he knew he was in too good of shape for his rapid flight to be the cause. "I was waiting for like ten minutes!"  
  
"You've only been gone about a minute," Quatre said, tilting his head quizzically at Duo.  
  
"Never mind. It's not important. Let's just go," he placated, cracking a well-practiced grin. He mock bowed and stepped aside, gesturing the others to go ahead of him.   
  
The others passed by with a few odd glances, but Heero stopped in front of him. He raised his eyes to meet the Japanese boy's, hoping they wouldn't give him away. Heero studied him for a moment.  
  
"Something wrong, Heero?" Duo asked in what he meant to be a jovial tone, but it fell rather flat.  
  
"You tell me."  
  
* Damn. Shoulda known better. He can always see right through me. * Duo thought, but was determined not to admit weakness.   
  
"Of course not," Duo said. "Why would there be?"  
  
He continued grinning innocently at Heero until he moved on. He hesitated in following. He had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.   
  
* This is stupid. * he thought, giving himself a mental slap upside the head. * I'm just spazzing out, for sure. Not enough sleep, too much stress, blah blah blah. Just calm down and go with them. *  
  
He took a few deep breaths, and tried very hard to squelch the creeping tendrils of dread as he started back down the steps. His nerves rattled as he took another step down the stairs, and then another and another. He was in the middle of the flight now; Heero and Wufei were only a few steps ahead. His brain itched. It was getting hard to breathe. He tried to take a calm breath, but he seemed to hyperventilating. Pain shot through his head like a metal splinter.  
  
Heero and Wufei both turned to look as he stopped and buried his face in his hands, his fingers twining in his bangs.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
Wufei was suddenly by his side. Duo jumped when he placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him to sit on the steps. The pressure around his mind eased, the nagging buzz between his ears faded as Wufei told him to put his head between his knees and breathe deeply. Slowly, he got himself under control, but it took all of his concentration.  
  
When he looked up, the others were clustered about him, peering at him, Trowa blankly, Quatre anxious and confusedly, Wufei speculatively, and Heero intensely. An absurdly unfocused part of his mind snorted - Heero did ~everything~ intensely - but he felt so drained that he didn't even try to smile.   
  
"Duo, what's wrong?" Quatre asked, worry showing plainly on his fair features.  
  
"I - I dunno," he said.  
  
"Fresh air will help you get your equilibrium back," Wufei pronounced after a pause. "Come on."  
  
He stood from where he'd been sitting beside Duo on the step, and offered Duo a hand. Duo frowned at him, but took the hand and levered himself upright.  
  
"Are you sure that's a good idea? Maybe you should lie down instead," Quatre suggested, frowning slightly.  
  
"No, it's all right. I think some fresh air would be good right about now," Duo said.  
  
"I'll come with you," Heero spoke up, unbending from his crouch.  
  
"Don't bother," Wufei said blandly. "It's not necessary."  
  
Heero looked sharply at Wufei, who returned the gaze with an appraising look of his own. Tension that Duo didn't quite understand passed between the two. He transferred his gaze from one to the other, and then turned to Quatre and Trowa. The blonde shrugged and Trowa was about as unresponsive as ever.   
  
"Let's go," Wufei said to Duo, breaking the frozen tableau and turning to go up the stairs.  
  
Casting once last glance over his shoulder, Duo followed. Heero didn't move, just glowered at Wufei's back.   
  
Wufei led Duo up the stairs and through the hallways. Duo was glad of the guide, he didn't think he could remember all the different passages yet, especially when he was feeling so... disoriented. His companion didn't speak, and the itching, buzzing feeling was fading more rapidly as they walked. Finally, they made it to a small balcony with French windows opening onto it. Wufei sat on the cushioned white bench and gestured Duo to do so as well.  
  
The climate hit like a ton of bricks after being in the cool, air-conditioned house. Hot and dusty wind sucked the moisture from his forehead as soon as his pores could release it. He breathed the dry air in without much hope, but to his surprise, the last vestiges of the fear he'd felt drained away. This, unfortunately, left him feeling unnaturally tired and embarrassed.  
  
* Oh God. * he thought, following this with several imaginative curses. * I can't believe I overreacted like that. That's like a full-blown panic attack. The guys must really think I'm some pathetic weakling. *  
  
That alarmed him. What if they took this incident not as the first - and ~only~ - one of its kind, but as a common occurrence? They might, no, they ~would~ deem him a liability. He wouldn't be able to pilot Deathscythe if he had seizures like this every time he got scared. Heero might even kill him for knowing too much. Or Trowa would. Duo didn't trust that cold, aloof exterior. And Wufei probably thought him too weak to fend for himself, which was why he'd taken it upon himself to guide Duo out here. The American braced himself for the tirade he knew was coming. Wufei was probably formulating something really scathing and long-winded at that very moment.  
  
He heard Wufei draw in a breath over the howl of the wind. * Here it comes... *  
  
"It's because you're blocked," Wufei said in a low voice.  
  
Duo paused in mid-sigh and turned to look at him. That was not what Duo was expecting. Wufei was watching the desert, but darted a sidelong glance at Duo.  
  
"Huh?" Duo asked, feeling ~so~ very intelligent at the moment.  
  
It was Wufei's turn to sigh. Then he turned to face him.  
  
"Listen, Duo, I know this is going to sound strange... But please, hear me out."   
  
"Shoot," Duo replied warily.  
  
"I am a psychic."  
  
Duo blinked.  
  
"What?"  
  
Wufei frowned.  
  
"I know you can't be as stupid as you pretend to be, so listen up and try to understand."  
  
The insult hit its mark. Duo straightened his back and glared at Wufei, who smirked.  
  
"That's more like it. Now, do you know what I mean when I say psychic?" Wufei asked.  
  
* He was right, it ~does~ sound strange. Especially coming from ~him.~ *  
  
"You mean someone who can predict the future and talk to - er - spirits and stuff," Duo answered skeptically.  
  
"Somewhat. There are many different kinds of psychic, and even more misconceptions about them. But we'll get into that later. What you need to know at the moment is that you have the ability to be psychic naturally. But you are blocked. Do you know what that means?"  
  
"What are you talking about? Have you been sitting in the sun for too long?" Duo asked. The situation was getting more strange by the second.  
  
Wufei frowned. "Look, will you cut the skepticism and just listen to me? Psychics are... more connected to the energy of the universe than so-called "normal" people. This allows them to sense more varied forms of energy and different levels of reality. All people have the ability to become connected, but a few are born with more innate ability than others. I am such a person," he stated, not boasting.   
  
"You're a psychic," Duo repeated flatly, raising an eyebrow. "Riiiiiiight. And what does this have to do with anything?"  
  
"Well, if you'd stop interrupting and let me explain, you'd find out." He locked his eyes on Duo's. "I can tell that you are as well. But - " here he held up a warning finger, " - you are blocked. This means that there is a mental barrier between you and your talent, thus disconnecting you from most forms of energy. It is such an old block that I couldn't immediately tell it was there."  
  
"Okay, if you say so," Duo said, only half understanding and not believing at all. "What's your point?"  
  
"I was getting to that. This place... There's something here. An old energy exists in this mansion, I could sense it from the moment I saw it."  
  
At these words, a shiver sought to trace it's way down his spine, despite the sweltering heat, but he suppressed it. He found this whole thing more than a bit surreal. The fact that it was ~Wufei~ telling him this... Well, that just added to his disbelief. He never figured Wufei to be the kind who enjoyed practical jokes like this, but he was pretty sure that the other teen was just seeing how much of this stuff he'd buy. Well, he wouldn't play along.   
  
"You know, I never figured ~you~ for the new-age flaky type," Duo observed absently, standing up and walking towards the French windows. "And as interesting as this has been, I think it's time we go back to the others. I feel much better now."  
  
"Duo Maxwell! Have you heard nothing of what I just said?" Wufei demanded, upset.  
  
Duo turned to look at him, suddenly very angry that his fellow pilot would think he was that easy to fool.  
  
"Look, Wufei, I don't know what kind of moron you take me for, but I can tell when someone is telling me major B.S. It's not bad enough that I made ~myself~ look incompetent; you have to go and as insult to injury. I'm not as weak as you apparently think I am," Duo spat out, feeling unusually venomous. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to talk to Quatre."  
  
Wufei looked like he wanted to retort, but he clamped his mouth tightly shut. He walked stiffly toward Duo, pausing only a few feet away. After a moment, he said in a tightly controlled voice, "I can't make you believe me. You have to realize this on your own, I see. But the shields I placed on you on the stairs and on our way out here will only hold so long against the pressure that will be put on them by this... presence in this house. When you have gotten it through your stubborn head that you need help, I'll be waiting."  
  
"Riiiiight. Now, shall we?" Duo asked, gesturing mockingly for him to lead the way. Once again he saw Wufei stop himself from saying something, and the Chinese boy began marching precisely back through the halls.  
  
Duo followed, snorting softly.   
  
* Just how stupid does he think I am? I know that psychics aren't real. *  
  
He dismissed the notion that it wasn't like Wufei to resort to trickery in anything, much less for the sole purpose of humiliating a comrade. After all, he didn't really know him all that well in the first place, and that meant that he really couldn't judge the guy's character. And if what he was saying was the truth, why hadn't he let Heero come with? Probably because he knew Heero would be able to see through his little charade. Duo could, too. No, what Wufei was talking about was just a load of crap.  
  
* But all this still leaves the question of what the hell happened to me down there... *  
  
  
  
  
  
END PART TWO  
  
  
  
Sooooo, whatdja thiiiiiiink???  
  
Thalia: That didn't really explain anything.  
  
Psyche: No, it didn't, did it?  
  
Eros: Think it's time for us to jump in?  
  
NOOOOOOOOO!!!! I really WILL explain everything. You guys are just impatient.  
  
Thalia: Fine, we'll wait a few more parts. If this hasn't gotten any better by then....  
  
Yeah, yeah, I know. Now, Erry-chan?  
  
Eros: RRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!!!!  
  
  
  



	4. Part Three

Author's Note: And heeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeee's chapter three! Sorry for the delay. Chemisrty is the suckiest subject over to be invented by science. _ I have a headache. Read the fic and enjoy and review!  
  
Thalia: And since it comes from her own little twisted mind, it's very weird and nothing is explained yet.  
  
I'll get around to it! Sheesh!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. * These are thoughts. * ~These~ are for emphasis.  
  
  
  
  
PART THREE  
  
  
  
  
Heero sat in one of the stylish black leather armchairs, arms crossed over his chest and his back ramrod straight. He wore a brooding expression and only by force of will kept from glancing at the steps every other minute. Quatre and Trowa wondered around the large common room of the basement, speaking too softly for him to make out the words, but Quatre was blushing pinkly almost the entire time. Heero didn't really care, being preoccupied with the events prior to the current situation.  
  
* What's wrong with Duo? * The question haunted him. It wasn't at all like the Duo he knew to have a panic attack, and that was definitely what it'd looked like. Duo had seemed unshakable in his mental health, despite the slight delusion he had, calling himself the God of Death. His trainer, the one who'd built Deathscythe, surely must've done extensive mental health testing to make sure a breakdown couldn't happen on the battle field.   
  
Nonetheless, Duo had just had some sort of attack or fit on the stairs. The recollection of Duo huddled on the step, breathing rapidly and shaking, evoked an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. Akin to the anxiety before a battle, but different, making it hard to breath around the sudden constriction in his chest. He shifted slightly in his seat, trying not to be obvious about his discomfort.  
  
His nerves were stretched taut, like a guitar string tuned too tight. That in and of itself wasn't unusual; being a gundam pilot was a job with a high stress level. But it was the fact that he had no real ~reason~ at the moment. He was as safe as he could conceivably be, Wing was going to be repaired - by no one but himself, of course - and he was getting an opportunity to observe these other pilots, whom he'd be working with and possibly relying on. It was as good as it got.   
  
And yet...  
  
There had been something... odd about the house when he first arrived. He could recall the details perfectly, from the wind-scoured outer walls to the way the hundreds of windows seemed so dark and bleak. The shadows had grown deeper in that moment, wider, darker, more ominous...  
  
* Masaka. *  
  
There were footsteps on the stairs. He turned, expecting to see Duo or Wufei returning, and feeling consternation rise in him. Why had Wufei almost come out and openly forbid Heero's presence? He was going to ask this, but instead of the other two pilots it was the tall bearded man who appeared to be the leader of the men working for Quatre. Heero stood, gliding over to where Quatre and Trowa were standing near a sculpture.  
  
"You've got company," he said in a low tone.  
  
Quatre appeared startled, and looked over at the bearded man. His brow furrowed slightly in puzzlement.  
  
"What is it Rashid?" he asked when the man had reached them.  
  
"Quatre-sama, I would like to speak with you," Rashid said, glancing down at Trowa and Heero. "In private."  
  
"Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it in front of them. We're all in this together," Quatre replied.  
  
Rashid frowned disapprovingly, but didn't press the issue. * Quatre is naive, and trusting. Could be a liability. * thought Heero. But he also noted that his men respected his judgement and obeyed his orders with little or no question. Such loyalty spoke a great deal about the slight blonde's abilities.  
  
"Quatre-sama, a situation has emerged. The Maguanacs are needed elsewhere," Rashid said, obviously hedging the issue. Quatre's expression turned worried and slightly annoyed, more at the fact Rashid wasn't being completely open than at the announcement itself.  
  
"All of you?" he asked.  
  
"Yes. You should stay here, though, and work out a strategy against OZ," Rashid added in an almost paternal tone.   
  
"I see," Quatre remarked, tone uninterpretable. "When are you leaving?"  
  
"As soon as the men have their machines fully loaded. I trust you pilots know your way around mobile suit hangars well enough to handle the repairs yourselves," the older man addressed this to Heero and Trowa. He didn't wait for a response before continuing to Quatre. "If there is an emergency, you know how to contact us."  
  
"Thanks for letting me know, Rashid," Quatre said with a small affectionate smile. "Good luck, and be careful, all of you."  
  
"We always are, Quatre-sama," Rashid replied, then bowed. He turned to go, but not before shooting warning glances at Heero and Trowa. When he was gone back up the stairs, Heero gave Quatre a long look, waiting to see if the blonde would explain.  
  
"I have no idea, Heero," Quatre interpreted the look. "I didn't know the Maguanacs had business other than mine to take care of here on Earth."  
  
"Then do you think it is wise to let your men go without fully understanding why?" Trowa asked in his even tenor.  
  
Quatre smiled slightly.  
  
"You two may think it's naive of me, but I trust them completely," he said. "And you must trust them to a point as well, or you wouldn't have come here."  
  
* He's perceptive. * Heero thought.  
  
Then the sounds of footfalls on the stairs again made the trio turn. It was Wufei and Duo, both looking windblown and disgruntled. Heero noted that in the back of his mind in order to plan more cooperative teams for future missions, but he was mainly concerned with the well-being of Duo. He really had wanted to go along, observe the braided boy more - to better gauge what was going on with him, of course. It didn't make sense that Wufei would stop him from going. What had gone on between them that would leave them upset?  
  
"Duo, are you feeling better?" Quatre asked, his lighter expression fading to worry again.  
  
"Yeah, man. Wu-man was right, I guess. All I needed was some fresh air," Duo replied, a winning grin replacing the frown on his face. In contrast, Wufei's similar expression deepened.  
  
"Don't call me that, Maxwell," the sloe-eyed youth snapped as they approached.  
  
"I saw that Rashid guy in the hall as we came back down. What did he want?" Duo queried, his indigo eyes flashing with curiosity, and perhaps a flicker of alarm.  
  
"He and the Maguanacs are leaving to take care of some situation which he didn't want to explain," Trowa said.  
  
"That's right. And they're going to be using the hangar for a while. We probably won't be able to start work on your gundams until tomorrow," Quatre added.  
  
"Well, that's all right. I mean, it's free parts, man. I think we can force ourselves to wait another twelve hours," Duo remarked good-naturedly. "In the meantime, why don't you finish showing us around?"  
  
"If you're feeling up to it, I guess we can go on. Just follow me and I"ll show you to your rooms," Quatre said, but he kept his frown until Trowa gripped his shoulder lightly when Wufei and Duo had turned away.   
  
As Quatre led them down yet another hallway, Heero watched Duo speculatively. * He's tense as well. And something isn't right. What went on between him and Wufei? *   
  
He stopped himself. Why did he keep returning to that? What did he care if the baka had gotten in a fight with the Chinese pilot? He shook himself. He really ~must~ be under stress, not being able to concentrate like this. He'd have to try and get some actual sleep tonight to function on full capacity tomorrow. If Duo had another attack, he'd have to be ready to - to do what the situation warranted.  
  
  
  
  
That night, he couldn't sleep at all. The rest of the tour had been sedate, and he'd gotten his pack from Wing's cockpit after they'd all been given rooms. He found it odd that the only bedrooms being used were in the basement, but supposed it made sense, it being the part of the house that was the coolest and most insulated from the wind. They'd made dinner for themselves in the massive kitchen, but carefully avoided mentioning Duo's little attack when they got to talking later on. Well, it was mainly Quatre and Duo who talked, and neither seemed willing to say anything, the former out of politeness and the latter out of embarrassment.  
  
He tossed on the lush bed, unaccustomed to the softness. He tried to will his brain waves into a sleep pattern, but he found he couldn't concentrate. He was wired, and he didn't know why. And he couldn't get the picture of Duo on the steps out of his head.   
  
* Don't worry about it now. Wait till the morning. *  
  
He heaved a sigh and rolled onto his stomach, burying his head under his pillow, determined to rest.  
  
  
  
  
He was in the middle of the desert. Dust and sand swirled around him on the gusts. He sweated in the sudden heat. He heard a slinking, shuffling sound and looked behind him.  
  
The people in the line were of all ages, sizes, sexes, and colors. They were all dead. He didn't know how he knew. But he knew they were definitely not alive. Their eyes were empty and the sand they kicked up made long trails down the sides of the dunes. They all dragged their feet towards the same direction. He followed the line of them to where they were headed, but he couldn't see where the line stopped, and when he looked the other direction he couldn't see where it began.  
  
"Hey," he said to the nearest dead person. "Where are you going?"  
  
The dead man gave no sign he had even heard. He kept shuffling along, a horrible jerky gait, like that of a badly-puppeted marionette. They all moved like that, like they were controlling themselves from far away. He furrowed his brow and was determined to get one to acknowledge him. He quickly moved to the man, the sand burning his bare toes, and grabbed onto the man's arm.   
  
"I said, where are you going?" he repeated.   
  
The man paused in the line, the other dead behind him stumbling and bumping into each other. He turned toward Heero and looked with glassy eyes at him. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but only a dry hissing came out, along with the smell of carrion. Disgusted, he let go quickly. The man kept walking, and the line began to move again, quickly closing the gap that had formed.  
  
Jingling and tinkling behind him. It was the girl again. He turned.  
  
She stood exactly as she had before, her eyes burning into him, seeing ~him~ and not the facade of calmness he inflicted upon himself.  
  
"Why can't they hear me?" he asked, slightly dazzled by the light reflected from her jewelry.  
  
"They are lost," she responded simply.  
  
That didn't make sense.  
  
"What?"  
  
"They are lost," she repeated with a glance over his shoulder. Her eyes widened and she pointed, the bangles encircling her wrist emphasizing the motion with percussive jangling.  
  
A sick, gut-twisting fear rose up in him, and he knew - he ~knew~ - that the dead were encroaching. He whirled, ready to defend himself.  
  
He was alone, not even near the chain of the dead. The wind howled louder here, blowing the sand more and more rapidly. The sky was rapidly growing darker with dust. He tried to run, looking for shelter. He could smell the rotting breath of the dead in his nostrils, making it that much harder to breathe through the sand. He fell down the unstable shifting mound, getting silica in his mouth and nose. With impossible speed, the sand flowed over him, burying him in heated heavy grit. He tried to claw his way out, but he couldn't breathe. It got heavier and heavier, and he was choking on it, drowning in it, dying with his lungs filled to bursting with sand -   
  
  
  
  
Heero woke on his bed, struggling out of the covers, gasping raggedly for breath. He coughed as if he was really hacking the stuff up. He coughed so hard he gagged, and had to run for the private adjoining bathroom. He retched into the toilet, still coughing uncontrollably. After what seemed an unbearable eternity, he managed to calm himself. He caught his ragged breath before standing on knees left weakened when the adrenalin had left his system. He slowly stood and flushed the toilet, thoroughly disgusted with himself. He washed his face and rinsed out his mouth in the sink, then stared into the large mirror.  
  
He was shirtless, wearing only his spandex to bed, and his hair was sweaty and even more tussled than usual. His eyes were still fear-dilated. He looked pale in the flourescent light., like all his blood had left him. Dark purple marks circled his eyes like bruises, and the light hung strangely, creating shadows in the hollows of his cheeks and eye-sockets. He looked like a corpse.  
  
A tremor, barely noticeable, passed through him, and he looked away from his reflection.  
  
* How often have I had nightmares lately? *  
  
He honestly didn't know. Sometimes, like tonight, he'd wake up and not know why, or have only a half-formed idea. And he could almost never recall his dreams when he had. But something was sharper, clearer tonight; something ~made~ him remember. He could still feel the weight of the sand all around him, crushing him, and there was no air, nothing to breath, so heavy and thick -   
  
He choked again, almost as if he was reliving the moment. And suddenly he was aware how ~small~ the bathroom seemed. And just beyond those walls were thousands of tons of sand, waiting to pour in on him and suffocate him -  
  
He realized he was being irrational. Wing's cockpit was utterly more cramped, and he knew that the walls wouldn't just give way and let the desert rush in and bury him. But even as he fought to get a reign on this claustrophobia, he was running out of the bathroom and into the dark bedroom, stumbling over the various furniture on the floor as he made his way to the door. He had to get out, had to get away from this hole in the ground that would swallow him whole if he stayed another second!   
  
He gripped the door handle as if it was a lifeline and turned with enough force to twist the knob off.  
  
It wouldn't budge. It had been locked from the outside.  
  
  
  
  
END PART THREE  
  
  
  
  
::gasp!:: Another cliff-hanger? Already? Damn, I hate it when I do that!  
  
Thalia: Hn. It's what you get for going it on your own.  
  
Psyche: We really should step in on the next part.  
  
Eros: I agree. This should be interesting.  
  
Hey! You guys can't do that!   
  
Thalia: Who's going to stop us? ~You?~  
  
Thalia, Eros, and Psyche: ::crack up laughing::  
  
_ Just get around to fishing for compliments, would you?  
  
Eros: RRREEEEEEVVVVIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!  
  
  
  
  



	5. Part Four

Author's Note: ::bound and gagged:: MMMMMMPPPHHHHHH!!!!  
  
Thalia: ::pokes authoress with a stick:: Quite you. This is OUR fic now.  
  
Thalia, Eros, and Psyche: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  
  
Eros: Do you think we'll be able to explain what's she's got started?  
  
Thalia: Uhh...... We can ~try.~   
  
Disclaimer: Psyche: WE DON'T OWN GUNDAM WIIIIIINNNNNGGG!!! So if you're going to sue you can bloody well piss off!  
  
Eros: Very tactful, dear.  
  
Thalia: * These are thoughts. * ~These~ are for emphasis. *(These are psychic/empathic thoughts/emotions.)*  
  
  
  
PART FOUR  
  
  
  
  
Wufei was having trouble sleeping. Every slight creek of settling resounded as if from across a great distance. The constant drone of the air conditioning system grated on his nerves. He was used to the natural sounds of night outdoors. He preferred to stay near his gundam's hiding place always, and this lead to much camping. The recycled air felt stale, and the silence, while punctuated by house noises, was too thick. His bed was too soft, and yet not soft enough, refusing to give in the right places but he kept sinking lower and lower in it.  
  
He rolled on his side, giving up on sleep for the time being. He instead directed his thoughts to the events of the day, and inevitably to his conversation on the balcony with Duo. He growled into the dark.  
  
* I messed that up pretty well. I was much too blunt. *  
  
He wished he had been more tactful about the whole thing, but he honestly hadn't thought that Duo was so ignorant of his ability as to reject the idea completely. Wufei was a bit insulted that the American would even consider the possibility that he'd been trying to play a practical joke on him. Such a thing would be extremely dishonorable, to take advantage of a fr- of a comrade's trust like that. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd lost his patience at that accusation. He shouldn't have let Duo go without understanding what he meant. But he'd had a hard enough time just keeping himself from blowing up at him. He frowned self-reprovingly. His temper would get the better of him if he wasn't careful...  
  
But back to Duo. Wufei didn't know what to do about him. He'd done his best by putting shields on him, but it still didn't change the fact that the boy was a ticking time-bomb. An untrained psychic was a danger to all those around him. He could be unknowingly used by spirits to gain possession of others, or could become possessed himself. And the feel of this house was unlike any Wufei had experienced before. Whatever was here was strong, it was old, and it was waiting, waiting, waiting...  
  
He felt the air in the room thicken with energy, even through his barriers.  
  
*( It knows what I am. )*  
  
He quelled the surge of fear that came with that realization. He couldn't afford to be weak in the face of this - this presence. He had to be strong enough to protect all of them until Duo accepted what he was and could help.  
  
He felt it undulate and ripple unpleasantly, pressing down on his own protective bubble of energy. It was trying to probe his depths, gauge his strength. He glared into the unnatural darkness and gathered himself.  
  
*( GO AWAY. )*  
  
He reinforced his command with a burst of energy. He became even more uneasy when this was just absorbed into the mass of black without a reaction. Then it slowly left, rising into the ceiling like some perverted imitation of steam, leaving a faint but distinct smell of rotting meat.  
  
Then he heard something outside his room crash into a wall. He jolted out of bed and ran across the room the his door. He opened it and rushed out into the lit hall. The noise was repeating itself regularly, a loud thumping against a door. He sped down the hall to it's source. It was Heero's room. For a split second, Wufei stood there with a look of honest surprise playing across his features. Then he went into action.  
  
"Heero!" he shouted, coming close to the door. "What's going on?"  
  
The pounding skipped a beat before speeding up.  
  
"Wufei, if this is your doing, I will kill you," Heero's muffled voice threatened.  
  
"If what's my doing?" he responded, trying to sound calm. Something was wrong here. Heero's normal monotone was audibly strained.   
  
"I'm locked in."  
  
Very strained. It was puzzling, but Wufei had no time to reflect on the meaning of Heero's tone. He tried to open the door, but the knob wouldn't turn.   
  
"It's not locked, Heero, it's jammed. I can't open it from this side either," Wufei told him.  
  
There was no response, but the pounding increased even more. A sudden crack drew Wufei's attention to the hinges. The screws were breaking out of the wooden doorframe. He had barely enough time to dodge before it broke open completely, falling to the floor with a clatter. Heero's momentum kept him going, but he tripped over the door. He careened into Wufei and both boys went down in a tangle.   
  
Heero was the first to recover, and he sprung up looking wild. He was stripped to the waist, drenched in sweat that reeked of fear. But even as Wufei dragged himself to his feet, he seemed to get a grip on himself. He turned his head down and away, his eyes squeezing shut. Wufei stood in silence for a moment, waiting for Heero to regain control.  
  
"What happened?" Wufei finally asked.  
  
Heero's gaze snapped to his face, staring searchingly. Wufei kept his expression carefully blank and returned the look. Finally Heero gave a small grunt.  
  
"I was over-reacting. I thought someone had locked me in," he explained.   
  
"Ah. I see. Anything else?" Wufei queried. He knew that Heero wasn't telling the whole truth. Nothing as simple as that would reduce his normal nerves-of-steel self to panic, and if he hadn't been panicked when he'd freed himself, Wufei didn't know a Leo from Nataku.  
  
Again Heero gave him a long, almost suspicious look. But was that a flicker behind the glare?  
  
"No."  
  
*( He's lying. )*  
  
"I see." Wufei frowned suddenly.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"You were hardly silent about opening the door. Shouldn't it have woken the others?"  
  
Surviving in battle gave one the ability to jump to several large conclusions at once. Heero followed the train of thought, and without another word they both went to check on why the others were absent from the scene. Heero went straight to Duo's door, Wufei noticed. He himself went to Quatre's and knocked.   
  
"Quatre?"  
  
There was no answer. Rippling fear made his knees feel watery. He wiped his sweaty hands on his the large tank top he wore over his boxers as pajamas, wondering why he was so shaky all of a sudden. He tried the handle, and found it turned easily. As soon as he stepped inside, he knew.   
  
The strange writhing darkness swirled lazily over Quatre's bed. The boy was panting in short shallow breaths, his blonde hair plastered to his head with sweat. It was horribly hot in the room, the oppressive extreme heat of the desert at high noon. And the - the ~thing~ drew energy from Quatre. Wufei could feel it slipping slowly but surely from the young Arabian. Like sand in an hourglass, or blowing in the wind.   
  
*( LEAVE HIM! )*   
  
Wufei threw himself into the heart of the inky energy, landing next to Quatre on the bed. He heaved the boy into his arms and over his shoulder, enfolding him in his shields. Then, before the parasite could react, he bolted to the door and back into the hall. He had to get back to the light, had to wrap himself and Quatre in the light and burn out the dark...   
  
He nearly ran into Heero and Duo in the hall. Duo looked disheveled and grouchy, his braid frayed. Heero looked up from opening Trowa's door, a scowl on his face.   
  
"Wufei, what's going on?" Duo demanded. "Heero won't tell me any- "  
  
Wufei gestured him silent with his free hand. He backed away from the door and kicked it closed. He could still feel the sheer force of the darkness, even through the door. Such a physical barrier would mean nothing to it, should it choose to follow. But the power was fading, flowing away as quickly as it had manifested. He heaved a sigh of relief. It was gone for now. He set Quatre down on the hallway floor as gently as he could.  
  
"What's all this about?" Duo demanded. "What's wrong with Quatre? Why is there a door in the middle of the floor?"  
  
Wufei ignored him for a moment to nod at Heero, who then went in to get Trowa.  
  
"Heero broke down his door. It was jammed. Didn't you hear it?" Wufei asked.  
  
"No, I didn't hear it, obviously," Duo snapped. "What happened to Quatre?"  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied with a meaningful look. It had its intended effect of sending Duo into indignant silence.  
  
Wufei examined Quatre. His sky-blue silk pajamas clung to his sweat-soaked body, and his breathing was still faster than it should be, but it was slowing. His pale brows were knit, almost as if he was in pain. His lips were slightly parted as if for a kiss or a whimper. Wufei glowered. He could sense that Quatre's energy was dangerously low. He pressed an ear to Quatre's chest. The heart beat was incredibly faint. And now that he could actually ~hear~ Quatre breathing, he realized that it was not getting ~slower~, it was getting ~shallower~ with greater spaces between breaths.  
  
"He's not going to make it," he muttered.  
  
"What?!" Duo shouted. "What did you ~do~ to him?"  
  
"I didn't do anything, baka," Wufei snapped back. He thought rapidly. Quatre needed energy or else his body would stop functioning and he'd die. Wufei had no spare energy, having used it all on shields and banishing the presence from his room earlier. He needed a source. "Duo, come here."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Duo asked, a sliver of fear in his voice, but he approached. Wufei held out his hand to him. He hesitated.  
  
"Quickly! You don't want him to die, do you?" Wufei demanded.  
  
Duo glared at him and grabbed his hand. Wufei stripped him of the shields mercilessly, funneling the energy through his arm and down the other, into Quatre's chest. There was a shock like muted lightning. As Quatre pulled in a deep breath of air, both Wufei and Duo swayed.  
  
  
Heero and Trowa emerged from Trowa's bedroom just in time to see Duo fall gracelessly on his rear a few feet behind Wufei, who promptly slumped forward over Quatre's still body. They needed no urging to rush to their sides.  
  
Duo was breathing hard and his eyes were the size of saucers. He stared in shock at Wufei, who seemed barely conscious, as Trowa rolled him over and checked both his and Quatre's pulses.   
  
* Why's he doing that? Wufei just fixed him. * he thought hazily. Then he frowned. No, he couldn't have fixed Quatre. That would mean that Wufei was.... And that was just impossible.   
  
The tingling in his right arm seemed to disagree. And he felt exposed, open, and shuddery, like someone had ripped off his clothes and then made him stand in the rain. He felt all raw and naked.  
  
* Bet it's all psychosomatic or whatever. When your mind makes it real because you think it's real. * he justified to himself. * But then, if your mind made it real, then is it any less real than if it had been that way in the first place? *  
  
"Duo," said a voice in his ear, breaking his unsettling train of thought. He realized that someone was shaking him rather vigorously. "~Duo.~"  
  
"Huh? Wha-? Heero?" he asked uncertainly. He turned toward the source of the voice to find himself staring into cobalt blue eyes. * Pretty.... *   
  
"Snap out of it," Heero commanded, shaking him again.  
  
Duo blinked, and forced himself not to blush.  
  
"Sorry. What - er, what just happened here?" he asked, then winced as he realized how pathetically plaintive that sounded.  
  
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Heero said, giving him an uninterprettable look. Then he turned his head to look over at Trowa. Duo followed his eyes and gasped.  
  
Trowa had pulled Wufei's shirt up and had his hands clasped over the Chinese boy's chest and was pumping his arms hard. Wufei's eyes looked glassy and his lips were turning blue.  
  
"Trowa?" Duo recognized that faint voice as his own.  
  
"His heart has stopped," Trowa dead panned, but his eyes gave away his anxiety.  
  
*( I see - the - the energy- )* *what energy?* *( he's going to - )* *huh? I don't - *( understand it now, yes and I have to - )*  
  
It was a disturbing thing, not being able to understand his own thoughts. It all lined up in his mind, but he couldn't express it even to himself. He just knew - only he didn't ~know~ - and that was all.  
  
  
Heero stopped staring at Trowa and Wufei when Duo moved. He tried to restrain him, but Duo shook off his grip like it was nothing. His fingers tingled.   
  
"Duo?"  
  
The American crossed the short distance on hands and knees, a peculiar expression on his face. His eyes were fixed on Wufei, but Heero got a strange feeling that he didn't see at all. Trowa didn't pause his CPR, but he was staring at Duo apprehensively. Duo stopped beside Wufei and pushed Trowa off to the side. The tallest pilot looked as surprised as he ever did, and allowed himself to be shoved away. Then Duo tilted Wufei's head back and bent very close.  
  
Heero felt a funny twist in his stomach, as if the ground had dropped out from under him.   
  
* He's not going to - *  
  
But then he did.  
  
It was a strange kiss because both of their mouths were wide open, almost like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But no breath passed between them... Heero felt his hair literally stand on end, and watched in morbid fascination as the same thing happened to Wufei's unbound hair. Then there was an almost audible crack as the static electricity disappeared.   
  
Duo pulled back abruptly, and Wufei arched his back, sucking in a great gasp of air. He promptly rolled over onto his side and began to cough. Trowa appeared shaken, his visible eye quite wide. He touched Duo on the shoulder, and Duo merely smiled beatifically before toppling over. Trowa checked his pulse and breathing.  
  
"He's just unconscious. He'll be fine," he said after a moment.  
  
Heero felt himself relax ever so slightly. Then he frowned. He hadn't even known he'd been worried. He shook himself. There were things to take care of.  
  
Wufei was recovering a little by now, and had sat up. He looked blearily around the hall, his obsidian eyes finally resting on Duo's unmoving form. He looked torn between a scowl and a smirk.. Heero felt an inexplicable urge to hit him.  
  
"Baka," Wufei muttered at the braided American. "I told you. But did you listen? Huh, I guess it didn't matter anyway."  
  
"Wufei," Heero intoned coldly. The black-haired boy turned his head to blink owlishly at him. "What just happened?"  
  
"Ah. You don't know, do you? No, I suppose not. Well, it should be obvious. Duo just saved my life. I told him. He didn't believe me. But he'll have to now. It's too late to go back."  
  
"What are you saying?" Heero demanded, confused and angry.   
  
"It's too late to go back, you see. Too late for all of us," Wufei repeated with an unnerving drunken giggle. Then he too passed out.  
  
  
  
  
END PART FOUR  
  
  
  
  
MMMPPHH!! ::squirming in the ropes::  
  
Thalia: ::pats authoress on the head:: Settle down, dearie. That wasn't so bad.  
  
MMMMMMPPPPHHH!!!!  
  
Eros: ::sigh:: She just don't appreciate us, does she?  
  
Thalia: She'll thank us later. Really, you will, won't you dear?  
  
MMMPPPPHH!!!  
  
Psyche: REEEEEEEEVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEWWWW!!!!!  
  



	6. Part Five

Author's Note: Hmpf. Well, now that I'm free, no thanks to a certain few MUSES, ::death glare:: I'm going to get the fic back on track.  
  
Thalia, Eros, and Psyche: ::bound and gagged:: MMMMMMPPPPHHHH!!!  
  
Bwahaha! Revenge is ~soooo~ sweet... Anyway, here we go.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, blah blah blah blah. * thoughts * ~emphasis~ *(psychic/empathic thoughts/emotions)*  
  
  
  
  
PART FIVE  
  
  
  
  
Quatre woke feeling... odd.  
  
He was in the large common room in the basement, wrapped in sheets that weren't his own. He could smell the rank scent of sweat all over himself, and examined his pajamas. Sure enough, they were stained. He wrinkled his nose, then looked up again. Five of the longer couches had been rearranged so that they were clustered close together in a vague pentagonal shape, all facing inward. Two were empty, only folded sheets on the last cushions. The other two were occupied by a sprawled-out Duo and a cocooned figure with a puddled of tangled black hair splayed across a pillow.  
  
* How'd we all get out here? * he wondered vaguely, yawning and stretching. He was too tired to really care enough to puzzle it out. He felt like he'd been sleeping for a thousand years, and could stand a few thousand more. * Too bad, I've got get up and help everyone with breakfast - *  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the chime of the antique clock on one of the shelves. He glanced at it, then blinked. It was only five? He could sleep a bit more then. If Trowa and Heero had gotten up early to work on their Gundams, then they probably helped themselves to the food. He laid back down to go back to sleep for a couple hours, until the day really started.  
  
He hadn't quite managed to drift off when he heard steps on the staircase. He sighed and sat up again to see Trowa coming down, holding three plates of steaming food and a tray with three glasses of water on it. Quatre blinked. * I knew he had good balance before, but this is almost silly... *  
  
"Glad to see you're finally up," Trowa said softly when he'd reached the odd furniture formation. He hooked a coffee table with one foot and dragged it over to the side of Quatre's couch, then set all the dishes down without spilling even a drop of water. "We were starting to worry."  
  
"Trowa, it's only five-thirty," Quatre protested lightly, a smile on his face. "What's with the breakfast in bed?"  
  
Trowa had crossed to Wufei and was shaking him not quite gently. He looked over at the blonde for a moment.  
  
"Do you know how long you've been sleeping?"  
  
"I dunno, about seven hours or so, I guess. Why?"  
  
"Quatre, it's five thirty in the evening, not in the morning. You and these two here have been unconscious for roughly sixteen hours. And it appears that Wufei will remain so for a while longer yet, as will Duo," Trowa said, as he had gone to Duo and tried to wake him.  
  
"Sixteen hours?" Quatre repeated, incredulous.  
  
"Actually, it would be more for you. You didn't wake when the rest of us did. I'd explain, but I really don't have a clue as to what went on last night," Trowa told him, coming to kneel on the opposite side of the coffee table. "You should eat something."  
  
Quatre looked down at the plates, each piled with noodles and chunky red sauce and topped with shredded cheese that had now melted. He inhaled deeply, savoring the delicious smell. He suddenly realized that he was not just hungry, he was ~ravenous.~  
  
"Thanks for bringing it, Trowa," he said. The pilot of Heavyarms shrugged noncommittally as Quatre picked up a plate of spaghetti and set to it like he'd never seen food before. He was a bit embarrassed by his eagerness, especially because it was not an easy thing to eat spaghetti neatly even when one had some pretense of decorum. He knew he was getting it all over his face in his haste, and desperately wished for a napkin. He flushed deeply as he gulped half a glass of water at once.   
  
* This wouldn't be so embarrassing if he wasn't just sitting there ~watching~ me. * he thought, wiping the corners of his mouth with his hand.   
  
"This is very good. Did you make it yourself?" he asked, the silence getting to him.  
  
"Yeah," Trowa replied.  
  
"Do you want some?"  
  
"I already ate."  
  
"Where's Heero?"  
  
"Working on Wing."  
  
"Oh. How's Heavyarms coming along?"  
  
"Fine. I should finish within the week."  
  
"That's good."  
  
Quatre couldn't think of anything else to say, and that flustered him a bit. He looked down at the plate on his lap, scooping the last of the noodles onto his fork and slurping them up. He was mortified when the last noodle whipped up and across his face, landing a stinging sloppy slap against his cheek before disappearing in his mouth. He turned bright red as he chewed, turning his cheek away. * Oh Allah, how embarrassing... *   
  
"Here, let me," Trowa said in his quiet voice, reaching into one of the pockets of his jeans and withdrawing a worn but clean-looking red handkerchief. He reached over and, with such gentleness it was surprising, wiped the offending sauce off of the blonde boy's cheek.  
  
* Oh, Allah... *  
  
The moment seemed to be an eternity in itself. Quatre memorized the lines of Trowa's face and body, the feel of the cloth sliding over his burning face. When Trowa pulled away, though, it had was too short of time. He realized that he was staring and looked away, feeling his cheeks grow even darker.  
  
"Thanks," he said. Then he blinked, suddenly noticing something. "Trowa, what happened to the sling?"  
  
He got up the courage to look at the taller boy. Trowa looked surprised for a second, then his eyes warmed slightly.  
  
"I was only wearing it because Catherine, a woman in the circus, insisted. She's appointed herself my caretaker, and tended my wounds after a battle once. My wrist had been bruised, and she thought it was sprained. I could tell it wasn't, but she wouldn't let me pilot until I put on the sling," he explained.  
  
"Wouldn't let you pilot?" Quatre asked with a bemused quirk of an eyebrow. But... he couldn't help wonder if the reason he was so much warmer than before was that he was recalling this... Catherine.  
  
"She throws knives with some accuracy."  
  
"Ah. Very persuasive argument, that."  
  
"I thought so. Anyway, I forgot to take it off yesterday until I went to bed. There was no need to put it back on, and it would inhibit my abilities," he said.  
  
"Why didn't you mention it before when I asked what happened?"  
  
"He was embarrassed," a new voice grumbled. Wufei struggled out of his cocoon, blinking sleepily and squinting.   
  
"So you're awake. Hungry?" Trowa asked, not responding to that comment.  
  
Wufei sat up and squinted at them. He rubbed his eyes and then widened them almost comically, blinking rapidly.   
  
"Yeah..." he said vaguely.  
  
Trowa got up and carried a plate of cooling spaghetti to Wufei, who ate with as much gusto as Quatre but a little more dignity. For a while, there was silence. Then Trowa broke the silence.  
  
"So, what happened?" he asked with what might've been impatience in his tone.  
  
"I'll explain when Duo awakes. By the way, did you plan this? Spaghetti, I mean," Wufei said, gesturing to his plate.  
  
Trowa gave him a long look.  
  
"Plan it?"  
  
"Well, the carbohydrates in the noodles restore energy, the vitamins in the vegetables in the sauce and protein in the meat restore chemical balances, and the water restores the electrolytes in the bloodstream. All of this is important for recovering from psychic shocks," Wufei pointed out.  
  
"What? Psychic shocks?" Quatre blinked, looking from Wufei to Trowa and back. They ignored his question, seemed frozen.  
  
"I didn't plan it," Trowa said after a long time. "It just... seemed like a good idea."  
  
'Ah," Wufei said, leaning back.. He tilted his head and looked speculatively at Trowa a while longer before returning to his food.  
  
* What is going on here? * thought Quatre helplessly.  
  
  
  
Heero slid out from under the control panel in Wing's cockpit. The circuit to the right HUD screen was fried. This would be a bitch to reinstall. He grabbed a small acetylene torch, welding goggles, and elbow-high work gloves from the open hatch. He put the goggles and gloves on, started the torch, and slid back under the panel. The tedious work of disconnecting the circuit didn't hold his attention for long, though. As his body continued to do this task with very precise motions, he found his mind wandering and wondering, as it had been prone to do all day.  
  
* I need more sleep. My mind is not focusing correctly. * he thought, but did nothing to make himself concentrate harder. That was odd. How come he was so... distracted?   
  
Was it the nightmares?   
  
They were so vivid. The heat of the torch on his face, arms, and chest reminded him forcibly of the desert and the dead and the fear. The dream. Who was that girl? Why was she so familiar, like an old friend, and yet so... so...   
  
Or was it the - the incident last night?  
  
Unbidden, the image of Duo and Wufei kissing came into his mind's eye. His eyes twitched as a spark landed on his goggles.   
  
* Why do I keep returning to that? * The image had haunted him all last night and all day, popping up at the oddest times. He frowned angrily. Last night was.... odd. None of it made sense. Least of all that part. He found the idea of Duo kissing Wufei very hard to wrap his mind around. Why? Was it because they were both boys? He'd never had a reason to think on it before, though the vague homophobia that was practically omnipresent in the military could be the reason he felt slightly nauseous. Or it could be that this presented a new worry: if two of the gundam pilots had engaged in sexual activity, would that make their emotions for the other pilot get in the way of a mission?  
  
Well, that wasn't exactly a new worry. Quatre had seemed interested in Trowa from the start. But Heero hadn't cared before as Quatre had practically thrown himself at the taller boy. So that destroyed the theories of homophobia and fear of missions being compromised in one stroke. But then what was it? What was different with Duo and Wufei than with Quatre and Trowa?  
  
He didn't have an answer, and came back to the present.  
  
He turned the torch off and tugged the now-freed circuit from the tangle of wires, then extricated himself from the panel and dropped the broken part over the side of the hatch. The clang rang out in the quiet of the hangar. The only sound after the echo had faded was the baying of the wind and a strange scratching noise, like rodents in the walls.  
  
* It's the sand. * he realized. * The sand hitting the walls outside. *  
  
He had to get a replacement circuit.  
  
Heero went to the edge of the hatch and grabbed for a safety wire. He leapt down, hearing the whir of the cord unwinding. He was only halfway down when the cord snapped with a ~ping.~ Something unseen pushed him hard toward the floor. He had time for a short dismayed frown before he landed hard.  
  
With the slithering, ringing noise of bending wire, the cord hit, curving in a vague way around his unconscious form.  
  
  
Duo sat bolt upright on his couch.  
  
"Heero's in trouble," he said, trying to get up, but he fell back in a dizzy spell. He squeezed his eyes shut to avoid seeing the room spinning.  
  
"Duo, stay where you are," Wufei commanded. "Trowa go get Heero from the hangar."  
  
Duo opened his eyes to find that he was in the common room, surrounded by couches and lying on one. Trowa was already halfway up the stairs.  
  
  
He was in the desert again. The line of walking corpses shuffled hopelessly, inevitably beside him. They were haggard and ragged, as if eroded by the constant wind and shifting sand. The sun was directly overhead, glaring down like a hateful eye, trying to mutate cells into cancerous growths with its potency.  
  
He looked down the line of marching dead. He didn't know what he expected to see. They didn't appear to have changed much since the last time he saw them. It stretched over countless dunes, until the people lost shape and distinction, just an indistinct streak of black in the distance obscured by heat waves.  
  
The girl sat at the top of the next dune. She faced away from him, gazing at something far away. He knew she could see the line's ultimate destination. He had to see for himself.   
  
He ran forward, nearly tumbling down the side of the hill of sand. But as soon as he got to the top, the girl was gone. He squinted through the dazzling light, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead. She sat in the exact same pose on the next dune.  
  
* So that's how it's going to be, huh? * he thought wryly.  
  
He plodded onward, jogging as best he could in the heat. His mouth was so dry... He needed water. Water... Blue... the sky...?  
  
He looked up at the sky, chapped and salt-rimmed lips parted as if he would drink it. But the ravenous desert had devoured the sky, turning it a garish wash of orange. The sun grew hotter and forbidding. He couldn't continue. He had to get water. Thirst was going to kill him if he didn't get even just a single drop -  
  
"Heero," came the lilting voice of the girl. He turned to it instinctively. She was only a few feet way, looking stern. He stepped forward, reaching out, almost begging for relief. But she took a step back, her gaze boring into him.  
  
* So that's how it's going to be... *  
  
Somehow, he managed to collect himself. He had to see what was at the end of the line. He had to follow the girl, water or no. It was his mission, now.   
  
* Ryoukai. *  
  
He blinked. He was somewhere different now, but it looked exactly like the last dune, and the dunes all around. Except the girl stood three dunes ahead, pointing at something. He did his best to ignore the sand biting into his flesh, propelled by wind. Finally, he reached her side. He followed her outstretched hand.  
  
There was a shape in the distance, a shine, a shimmer that reached up into the orange sky and down deep into the sand. He saw, and he felt a tug, faint but definitely there. Fear contracted around his heart. That was where the dead were headed.  
  
  
  
  
He came to himself with a slap ringing in his ears and his face stinging. He surged up, feeling sweat trickling down his face and neck, his tank-top clinging to his skin. He stepped backward quickly, too quickly. He nearly fell again as he tripped over the fallen safety cord. When he regained his balance, he looked around. Trowa stood not too far away, looking at him.  
  
"What happened? Are you all right?" he asked calmly.  
  
Heero took a deep breath before he answered.  
  
"The safety cord snapped," he answered.  
  
Trowa started a little. The wires they used to get in and out of the gundams were made of rubber-coated braided steel a Quatre of an inch thick. It couldn't have just snapped. Heero bent and picked up the end of the cord. The black rubber coating had been worn away, looking pock-marked. It was gritty and dusty to the touch. The metal was frayed, with smaller wires sticking out and also looking very worn. The two teens shared a look, with expressions that could almost be called bewildered.  
  
"The others are awake," the pilot of Heavyarms told him. "Wufei is ready to explain."  
  
"Hn," he responded, dropping the wire. "Let's go." He tried not to stagger as he began to walk back to the house. This was going to be an interesting explanation.  
  
  
  
  
END PART FIVE  
  
  
  
  
Okay! Now, I've just get to explain a lot in the next chapter. Betcha didn't think I'd ever get around to it, huh? And without muses, no less.  
  
Thalia: ::squirming in the ropes:: I'll get you for this.  
  
How'd you get your gag off?  
  
Eros: We muses have our ways.   
  
Well, then, make yourselves useful.  
  
Eros: REEEEEEEEEEVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!  
  
  
  
  



	7. Part Six

Author's Note: Okay. Here we go. Maybe ~someone~ will understand what's going on when the chapter is done. Hope you all like it. ^_^   
  
Psyche: Can we just continue with the fic?  
  
Sure!   
  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing -  
  
Psyche: So if you're want to sue, you can bloody well piss off!  
  
You just like saying that, don't you?  
  
Psyche: Yep! ^_^  
  
* thoughts * ~emphasis~ *( Psychic/empathic thoughts/emotions )*  
  
  
  
  
PART SIX  
  
  
  
  
Duo finished the plate of lukewarm spaghetti in record time, even for him. He wiped his mouth on his hands, which he wiped on his pajama pants. He chugged the rest of his water down. Quatre and Wufei watched him. He looked back, and when the glass was empty he set it on the carpet.  
  
"What?" he demanded.  
  
"What do you recall from last night?" Wufei asked.  
  
"Well..." Duo began, stretching and using it as a cover to glance up at the stairway. No sign of Heero or Trowa. Damn. He was worried almost to the point of getting up and running after them, despite what Wufei had said right after Trowa left, that he "needed to recuperate from his experience." "There was lots of weird stuff going on, and I did something to save your life, I think. I - "  
  
He broke off and frowned.   
  
"I don't remember what it was, though... " he finished lamely.  
  
Wufei arched an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, that's not too unusual. Many of the psychics I've met found their first time so traumatic that they blotted the exact details from their minds. I can't remember ~my~ first experience, either," he said. "But I was told of it."  
  
"Really? What was it?" Quatre asked, blinking curiously.   
  
Duo turned his head to throw a quelling look at Quatre. The braided boy found the fact that Quatre was taking all this "psychic" mumbo-jumbo in such good stride annoying. Where was the disbelief? Where were the denials and rejections? * Well, Quatre has an overly-trusting nature. And some freaky-odd things happened recently... I'll give Wu a chance, I guess... *  
  
"Never mind. I'll tell you about it sometime. My point is that none of us can tell exactly what happened last night until we get Heero here. It all started with Heero," Wufei answered cryptically.  
  
"Wufei, do ~you~ know what I did to save you? I ~did~ save you, right? It wasn't Trowa or Heero, was it?" Duo asked.  
  
"I was not in a position to recall much. I do know that it ~was~ you who saved me. For that I am deeply indebted to you," he said, clasping his hands in front of his chest and bowing as best he could while in a semi-reclined postition.  
  
"Heh, don't mention it," Duo replied with a grin, a little uneasy at the formality of the statement. "You would've done the same for me, right? That's what friends do. But it's a bit of a switch, huh? I'm Shinigami and I pulled someone ~back~ from the brink of death."  
  
Quatre and Wufei looked bemused, but the moment was broken by Heero and Trowa hurriedly coming downstairs. Duo heaved a silent sigh of relief, then cracked a more believable smile. Heero was still wearing welding goggles and gloves.  
  
"Ahhh!" he shouted in mock fear. "Run for your lives! It's a bug-eyed alien from Neptu- ohhhh, it's you. Sorry, Heero."  
  
Quatre smiled at this, and Wufei cocked an eyebrow wryly. Trowa just ~looked~ at him. But he couldn't see Heero's eyes through the green-tinted plastic of the goggles, so the glare he knew was there didn't count. Then Heero removed the gloves and goggles, and sat on one of the unoccupied couches. Trowa sat down on the far armrest of Quatre's couch and crossed his arms.  
  
"What happened?" Duo asked, anxious to know if the sudden fear he had, when he ~knew~ something had gone wrong with Heero was founded. He tried to ignore how hypocritical he was being by disbelieving Wufei and yet following his... hunches this closely. * It's not a prediction or an omen or something like that... *  
  
"The safey cord on Wing snapped. I was knocked unconscious. Trowa woke me up and we came back here," Heero explained succinctly. He crossed his arms as well, his intense gaze darting from Wufei to Duo sharply.  
  
* Whoa. I was... right. He ~was~ in trouble. ....This is weird. *  
  
"So... what now?" he asked as silence began to settle around them like a thick haze of smoke.  
  
"We each tell our sides of the story. I think we can all agree that something... not easily explained by science or logic is going on," Wufei said. "I ask you to please consider what I am going to say, and not reject it out of hand." He tossed a significant look in Duo's direction, who snorted in response.  
  
"Go on. After what we saw last night, I'm sure we can afford to be a bit credulous," Trowa said. Heero gave a single sharp nod to signal his agreement.  
  
Wufei examined all four faces for a moment, as if searching. Then he took a deep breath.  
  
"I am a psychic. That means in very blunt, general terms that I am more connected to the energy that makes up matter and life and all the different levels of reality."  
  
"Like a - a newtype?" Quatre asked, something like hope in his voice.  
  
"Possibly, but not necessarily. Psychics have been around since the dawn of humanity, while newtypes are exacty what their name says: new. There is some debate as to whether it was humanity's natural state to be psychic, but somehow or another most people have blocked off their talents. Now most are born with the blocks already in place. With some work, anyone can remove these blocks. But there are a few who don't have them when they are born, who are inherently more open to the ebb and flow of energy in the universe. I am one such. Duo is another. I realized this after Duo's attack on the stairs," he explained.  
  
"You see, when a person is born with more innate connectedness, it is especially hard for the blocks to form. This leaves most psychics open their entire lives. Duo, you are the first born-psychic I have met that has a block like a "normal" person. But it is not ~exactly~ like a normal block. It is susceptible to pressures from outside." He paused to take a sip from his glass of water.  
  
"This brings me to a point. There is a... pressure here in this house. A very ~strong~ pressure. Strong enough to crack Duo's block. That is why you had an attack on the stairs. As soon as I manipulated my own energy to form a sort of mental shield around you, it stopped."  
  
Duo frowned, but couldn't think of anything to say to discount this little speech, other than outright rejection of everything. And he couldn't do that, not after last night. He grudgingly admitted - just to himself, of course - that it ~did~ help explain, if you suspended your disbelief enough.  
  
"Keep talking," he urged in a tight voice, aware that they were all looking at him.  
  
  
Wufei resisted a sigh of relief. Duo was starting to accept it, starting to give a little ground. The others didn't really have to believe him, not now at least. But it was of the utmost importance that Duo did not block himself off again, however he'd managed to do it in the first place.  
  
"That having been said, I think you are ready to hear my version of events last night." Wufei leaned back on the armrest of his couch. The others listened intently as he spoke, telling of his encounter with the mass of energy, and Heero's flight. When he got to the part where he confronted the parasite in Quatre's room, he had to pause to drink again.  
  
There was a small silence. Quatre was deathly pale. Trowa looked sharply from Quatre to Wufei and back. Heero merely watched them all with a slightly detatched air. Wufei studied him. The Japanese teen was trying to look unmoved, but if one looked, one could see the muscles of his jaw clench and relax repeatedly. Duo seemed to be caught between skepticism and something deeper.   
  
* Good. *   
  
"It was sucking the life force from you, Quatre. I could feel it draining you. I grabbed you and wrapped you in my shields, and ran out of the room. It could have followed, but it let you go. Then I realized that it was because it had nearly sapped all of your life force from you."  
  
Quatre's eyes were the size of plates, and he blinked. Trowa shifted slightly on his armrest. Wufei noticed the quick sidelong glance he tossed the blonde. * Heh, now ~there's~ something I didn't expect. * he thought sarcastically.  
  
"I had to restore it. I stripped Duo of the shields I put on him, and poured that power into you. It worked in that it kept you alive, but, unfortunately, too much of my own life force went into the effort. I'm not ~quite~ certain on the events after that, other than a vague recollection of speaking to Heero afterwards," Wufei finished.  
  
"I remember you passing out. Trowa was trying to restart your heart, but CPR wasn't working," Duo told him. Then a peculiar unfocused look came into his eyes, and he frowned puzzledly. "I knew... something was wrong. So I... did something. I don't know what, though."  
  
Heero looked slightly startled at that, but he quickly regained his emotionless countenance. Wufei noted this out of the corner of his eye. * Hm. Interesting. *  
  
"Neither of you can remember?" he asked.  
  
Wufei and Duo both shook their heads.  
  
"Duo... You went into a sort of trance, I guess. You went over to Wufei and pushed Trowa out of the way. Then you... kissed him," Heero said in a dead sort of voice.   
  
"I did WHAT?!" Duo demanded, sitting bolt upright, staring with disbelief at Heero.  
  
* That ~is~ surprising. * Wufei thought, feeling his eyes widen.  
  
"There was a swell of something like static electricity," Trowa went on. "Then it was gone, and Wufei's heart started again, obviously. Duo, you passed out after that."  
  
Quatre was looking from Heero to Duo and back rapidly, a smal furrow in his brow as he absentmindedly rubbed his chest. Duo had turned an alarming shade of red. He seemed to find the pattern on the comforter he was wrapped in very interesting. Wufei felt a faint blush on his own cheekbones, but it wasn't nearly as bad as all that, was it? Or was Duo straight after all? Wufei wasn't sure. The braided pilot gave so many mixed signals that is was most likely he wasn't sure himself.   
  
"Don't take it for anything significant. It was merely a way to transfer the energy," Wufei told them all. Duo gave him a look that could've boiled glaciers, and he felt his face grow redder. "Such a feat is very tricky. It's part psychological. It is an incredibly intimate thing. Also, one has to ~feel~ like they're giving off energy, otherwise it doesn't work. Your subconscious mind decided that since it was mentally intimate, it should be physically intimate as well."  
  
It also had to do with the necessity for balance between the astral and physical plane, but Wufei didn't feel like getting into a detailed explaination of the statement "As Above, So Below." that could take hours. But the others kept staring at him skeptically, and Duo did so accusingly. He felt himself blush yet ~more~ darkly, this time with annoyance.  
  
"Be glad it was just kissing. A few psychics can only transfer energy by having full intercourse," he snapped, then tossed his tangled hair out of his eyes so he could glare at them.  
  
This didn't seem to mollify Duo in the least, though, and there was an awkward pause.  
  
"Wufei," Heero intoned at last. "You said that it was too late for all of us. What did you mean by that?" His posture was almost challenging.   
  
* I wonder what he's so upset about... *  
  
"I was most likely delirious. I have no idea what I could have meant by that," he replied evenly. "Heero, what woke ~you~ up in the first place?"   
  
Heero hesitated, his eyes turning troubled for a split second. Then he seemed to firm himself.  
  
"I had... a dream. A nightmare," he said.  
  
Wufei resisted the urge to blink in surprise. It had never really occured to him that intense pilot 01 would dream at all, much less have nightmares. * But then, he ~is~ only fifteen, like the rest of us. Too young to be killing for a living. * A twinge of memory beckoned from the edges of his conscious, but when he tried to followw it, it vanished. He merely had the impression that this could be important.  
  
"Do you have them often?" the Chinese boy asked in a neutral tone. Heero shrugged. "What was it about?"  
  
"Is this necessary?" Heero frowned, glaring at Wufei. What was that in Heero's voice? Hidden underneath the unvarying monotone, was that a hint of... suspicion? Distrust? Maybe even.... fear? For a second Wufei groped for something to justify this question, knowing that it lurked somewhere in the back of his mind. He resisted a frustrated sigh. It might be dishonorable to lie, but he had to invent to keep Heero from avoiding answering.  
  
"It would help explain your frame of mind. Yuy, you don't want to admit it, but last night you were practically hysterical. What was your dream about?" Wufei repeated, glaring back at Heero, hoping this argument would be enough until he knew the ~real~ reason he had to know this.  
  
They kept their eyes locked for a long, long moment. The tension was heavy and thick, with definite dimentions. He was almost ready to break down and let it slide - for the moment, at least - when Heero took a breath and spoke.  
  
  
"I don't know when I first started having them," he began, his voice so low that the rest had to lean in to hear him. This was humiliating; he was appearing weak in front of people whose respect he not only needed but - he admitted reluctantly - craved. "But lately, I've been waking up in the middle of the night. Last night was the first time I had a really ~clear~ memory of a dream. I had another today when I was knocked unconscious."  
  
Duo was watching Heero like a hawk. "What happened in your dreams?"  
  
Heero met his gaze, and Duo blanched a little.   
  
"Both times I was in the desert, standing next to a line of people. They were marching across the desert, and there were so many that I couldn't see the start or end of them. Last night, I tried talking to them, but they were all dead. Walking corpses," he said, hating the flat quality of his tone. He might as well have "FEAR" tattooed on his forehead.   
  
Around him the others looked uneasy as well and did not comment.  
  
"Then this... girl came up to me. She... She was very familiar, but I didn't recognize her. She told me that the dead are lost, then made me turn around. And then I was nowhere near the line of dead people, she was gone, and there was a storm. I was buried in sand," he went on, then cleared his throat. "Then I woke up."  
  
A philosophic pause followed as everyone digested this.  
  
"What was the other one like?" Quatre queried after a moment, looking at him with bright aquamarine eyes. The depth of empathy within them surprised Heero.  
  
"I was standing on a dune beside the line of dead, and I saw the girl ahead of me, looking at something. I went to follow, but the sun was so hot. I was dying of thirst, and the sky had turned oragne. Then the girl was right in front of me and wasn't going to let me quit. I went with her until she stopped. She pointed at something. On the very edge of the horizon was... something. I don't know what. But that was where the line was headed," he said, faster now. * Treat it like a mission debriefing. *  
  
"Orange sky?" Wufei asked, his brow furrowed as if he was having trouble remembering something.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"That means something," Wufei muttered, half to himself. "Heero, thank you. Tell one of us if you have another dream like that."  
  
"Ryoukai."  
  
  
Wufei smirked slightly at that. He'd just given Heero Yuy an order. He forced himself not to get smug, and turned to Duo, who was looking at Heero with an odd, preoccupied. expression.  
  
"Now, Duo. About your abilities... " he trailed off. *( Something... )*  
  
"Wh-hat, Wu-man?" Duo asked, glancing around nervously.  
  
Wufei did not respond, though a part of him was vindicated. * Good. He feels it, too. *  
  
A creeping feeling of unease swelled in his chest. He thought he saw something stir from the corner of his eye, and he jerked his head to the side, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever it was. There was nothing there.   
  
The others followed his glance, though no one appeared to have seen anything. Wufei wished passionately that he was recovered enough to expand his shields. He wanted to keep that... ~thing~ as far from them as possible. But as it was, his shields were shrunken, clining tightly to him like a second skin. * Damn. It's going to be at least a week to regain my full power. How will I protect them? *  
  
"Never mind. I think... it's here," he said in a low voice.  
  
  
  
  
END PART SIX  
  
  
  
  
That help any?   
  
Thalia, Eros, Psyche: NO!  
  
Oh. Well then. I'll just have to give it another shot, won't I? ^_^  
  
Thalia, Eros, Psyche: ::fall over::  
  
Eh, Review, huh?  
  
  



	8. Part Seven

Author's Note: Don't feel like writing a note. :p Nyah!  
  
Disclaimer: Or one of these, either. :p Bwahaha! Nyyyah!!  
  
  
  
  
PART SEVEN  
  
  
  
  
The temperature of the room rose several degrees. Heero had the horrible crawling feeling of being watched, reminding him of the malevolent sun in his most recent dream. Duo gasped, glancing all around the room suspiciously. Trowa seemed unaffected, but there was tension in the set of his shoulders and jaw. He was staring at Quatre, his visible eye worried. Heero followed his gaze.  
  
As he watched, the air around Quatre seemed to grow thicker, like a veil. Heero had to squint to make him out, as if his eyes wouldn't focus properly. They kept trying to slip from Quatre's form, and it took a concentrated effort not to let them. Quatre himself appeared greatly fatigued, panting for breath. He sank back against the arm of the couch with his eyes closed.  
  
"Quatre?" Trowa asked. The blonde boy gave no response. Sweat had broken out all over his forehead, and his breath rasped hollowly in his throat.  
  
A movement from the corner of his eye made Heero turn. Wufei was staggering across the open area between couches. His eyes weren't focused on Quatre, but a few feet above their heads. Anger blazed in those abysmal black eyes, barely contained rage twisting his features into a mask. He held a hand in front of himself, palm outward. With a jerking motion, he raised it. Heero felt a wave of tingling wash over him, making the hairs on his arms stand up.  
  
The haze around Quatre faded for a moment, then returned. Wufei swayed on his feet.  
  
"It... it's got its hooks in him... " he almost sighed just before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed in a heap on the floor.  
  
"Wufei!" Duo cried, going into action. The American leapt off his sofa and knelt at Wufei's side. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard. "C'mon, man! Wake up! What should we do?"  
  
Wufei blinked, coming around... barely. "I need... energy..."  
  
"You got it man! Take it from me, whatever, okay? Just save Quatre!" the braided boy commanded, reaching down to take Wufei's hands in his own.   
  
As soon as their skin met, Duo stiffened. He grimaced, his sharp intake of breath hissing between his teeth as his back arched. He opened his mouth, his throat straining as if he wanted to scream but no sound would come out. Heero didn't know he was moving until he was at Duo's side. The charged atmosphere around the two pilots gave him cause to hesitate, but he only did so for half a second. He grabbed each of their wrists, intending to pull them apart.  
  
This proved to be a mistake. His muscles seized in the agony of having his life force tapped. He couldn't force himself to let go. His hair stood on end, crackling and snapping with static electricity.  
  
Energy swelled to an impossible strength, then pulsed, spreading out from the three of them. The floodgates opened; there was no stopping it. The wave roared in all direction, shoving the odd, heavy thickness out, mere flotsam on a tsunami. Through a haze of pain and abrupt fatigue, Heero saw Trowa cover Quatre's form with his own body, but it washed right ~through~ him -  
  
* How do I know that? *   
  
- and through Quatre. The blonde screamed as it did so, then sank limply into the couch again. Trowa held onto him tightly, wrapping his long arms around the shorter boy's shoulders and waist.  
  
And then all was still, save for their raged breathing. Heero felt something wet on his face. He uncurled his painfully protesting hands from the others' wrists and slowly touched them to his face. His blood dripped down his chin and arms, splattering on the carpet. He blacked out.  
  
  
  
  
Wufei strove to remain conscious. If he fainted now, he wouldn't wake up for a least three days. They didn't have that kind of time to waste. He had to think, and think fast.   
  
"T-Trowa, wake Quatre. Don't let him fall asleep, we need to - to check him," he gasped, releasing Duo's hand.   
  
"Check him for what?" Trowa asked, shaking Quatre.   
  
"The thing that we - have managed to dispel," he panted. "It has power of him. We have to - see - if the connection - is broken."  
  
"What if it's not?" Duo wanted to know, and peered down groggily. Wufei glanced up at him sharply, gauging him. His pupils were the same size, which was a good thing, but he looked... too bright, too fresh.   
  
* He's going to go into shock. I have to work quickly. *  
  
"Then we're in deep shit," he replied, getting up. Yuy was a crumpled heap next to them, bleeding from his nose. * Bakayarou. You shouldn't have interfered. You weren't prepared. * "Duo, go get Heero cleaned up."  
  
Duo blinked, then looked over at Heero. He gasped as his eyes widened, a flash of confused emotions playing across his features. But before Wufei could assess them, he stood and gathered Heero up in his arms. Then he staggered away, disappearing down the hall that led to their rooms. Hopefully, a task based solely in the physical realm would help ground him, get what meager energy he had left pulled together. At least, this is what Wufei profoundly hoped.  
  
He turned back to Trowa and Quatre. Trowa was having no luck at waking Quatre. Wufei resisted a growl of frustration. He crossed the short distance to the couch, hand raised again. This time it came down with a resounding smack against Quatre's cheek. The boy jerked awake as Trowa grabbed Wufei's wrist and glared at him. Wufei returned the look coolly.  
  
"Let go. We don't have time for this," he said.   
  
Reluctantly, Trowa relinquished his hold, but continued to stare accusingly at him. Wufei chose to ignore this and bent over Quatre, who seemed very but understandably disoriented.  
  
"Quatre. Quatre, can you hear me?"  
  
"W-'fei?" Quatre asked, trying to sit up. Trowa placed a hand on his chest and forced him to lie still. Wufei shot him a grateful glance. "What's going on?"  
  
"Calm down. The thing came back. I need to see if we got rid of all of it," Wufei explained. "I need to see inside your head."  
  
"Oh. How're you goin' t' do tha'?" the Arabian slurred, obviously struggling to stay awake.  
  
"Just stay relaxed and don't fight me," he said, then placed his fingers over Quatre's temples and closed his eyes to concentrate better.  
  
His pool of energy had dwindled to less than a fourth of its natural size, but he squeezed yet more from it in order to enter Quatre's mind. In his ~sight~ Quatre was a green-blue ball of life-force, swirling and changing. Other colors, the boy's aura, shifted colors, gray to bright red to black to blue to poison green. He was not healthy. But then Wufei encountered something strange. Instead of blocks, there were natural shields. The construction was different from his own mental shields, and from that he could tell they had always been there, that Quatre was probably unaware of them. They weren't as thick as proper shields, so that meant they probably "leaked" a great deal.  
  
*( Newtype. )* * I'd always wanted to know what made them so different. No blocks, but no ability either. Just some pretty weak shields. No wonder it went for him. He's the easiest prey an energy vampire could hope for. *  
  
There was no time. He memorized the details to ponder later, and went on. Quatre opened himself as he approached. That was only a mild surprise; Quatre new instinctively what it'd take ~him~ years to learn. He dove in, not having the energy to waste on being overly gentle. But he was experienced and careful, so he hoped that it wasn't' too uncomfortable for the blonde boy. The alien but paradoxically familiar sensation of having your consciousness being engulfed by another surrounded him, and he began to search for traces of the darkness in Quatre.  
  
Thoughts and emotions and memories flitted by, but Wufei politely didn't watch them. He wasn't in here to pry. He rifled through Quatre's subconscious quickly and efficiently, missing no nuance in the coloration of the energy. He was beginning to hope that maybe they'd succeeded in getting rid of the thing. But then he saw where it was hiding.  
  
A coil of a black so profound that it wasn't a color, that it was the complete void of color laced its insidious self around the very core of Quatre, the bright pulsing center of Quatre's life force. It would be greatly shielded from all outside influences by the rest of Quatre's being, and at any direct attempt to remove it, it could simply tighten around the core and extinguish the flame of life. Wufei felt sick.  
  
* Oh God. There's nothing I can do. I was too late, too weak, and now Quatre could die for my negligence! *  
  
And as if he to prove that his helplessness was complete, the tendril of evil expanded suddenly, enveloping the bright nucleus. completely.  
  
"NOOOOOO!" he screamed mentally and physically as the horrible thing lashed out at him, driving him back into his own body with the force of an explosion. He was thrown off balance and fell backwards, landing hard a few feet away. Quatre was unconscious again, and very, very pale. Trowa was watching him with ill-concealed worry and fear.  
  
"It's still got him. I've failed you. I'm sorry," he grit out through the incredible return migraine that throbbing in his skull. Then there was white.  
  
  
  
  
Duo knew he was immensely drained. That is, intellectually he knew this, but his body seemed to have other ideas. He fairly jogged into his bathroom, careful not to bang bits of Heero on the doorframe. He was grateful to get away from the scene of such weirdness. The ~really~ strange part was that he was starting to see it in a different light, starting to think he might understand some of it.   
  
* A little. Maybe. *  
  
He laid the insensible Heero in the bathtub, propping him up against the back of the basin so his he wouldn't drown in his own blood or swallow much of it. Duo then stripped off the stained green tank-top, and, figuring that a few more stains wouldn't matter, used it to wipe as much of the coagulating and sticky, rusty substance from Heero's arms and face. Then he wet a wash cloth with cold water and pressed it under Heero's nose. It was almost comforting - in a twisted way - reminding him of the times after missions when he and Heero had helped each other with first aid. While the memories were of equally hard and complicated and confusing times, they were familiar.   
  
* I wonder how badly he was hurt in his fall from Wing. * Duo frowned. * I hope he doesn't have a concussion. *  
  
Eventually the bleeding stopped, but Heero still hadn't come around. Duo rinsed out the washcloth and began cleaning him up. He cleaned his chiseled chest, neck, wiry forearms, and calloused hands. Finally, Duo was done and sat back uncertainly. There was something strange about watching Heero when he wasn't awake. When his face was relaxed, he looked younger, less forbidding. Attractive - It was unnerving. He was supposed to be completely invulnerable, totally in control. But sleep happened to Heero Yuy just like it happened to everyone else.  
  
* So will death. *  
  
He didn't know where the thought came from, but it made him even more nervous, and nauseous to boot. He couldn't conceive of Heero being dead. He didn't ~want~ him to be dead. Ever.  
  
Duo looked away from Heero's face. His eyes burned, and his throat ached. He yawned widely to relieve the problem.  
  
* Guess whatever the hell Wu did back there took a lot out of me. I need sleep. *  
  
He glanced down at Heero again.  
  
* But it might be a while before ~he~ snaps out of it. It can't be too comfortable in there. Where can I put him... *  
  
He sighed and once again lifted Heero. His arms protested, but he managed it. He walked sideways out of the bathroom and into the main room, again succeeding in not bumping Heero against anything. He was almost to his disheveled bed when Heero woke up and they fell over.  
  
  
  
  
Heero came alert with a jerk, and every part of his body objected to the movement. There was something off from the start; the balance was wrong. He instinctively tried to pull himself upright, but because the thing he grabbed onto was also falling, this did very little good. He tensed in preparation for impact.   
  
He landed hard on his back; bruises formed from his earlier mishap screamed. A split second later, something heavy and bony landed on top of him. He clenched his teeth until the pain subsided, then opened his eyes. He found himself mere inches away from Duo's face. Large indigo eyes stared down at him in surprise. Warm, panting breath washed over his face, and Duo tensed oddly.   
  
* Ne? * was his first thought.  
  
Time seemed to slow, almost stop, measured by each intake of breath, every thundering heartbeat. For a dark, smouldering moment, Heero was confused. The weight on top of him, while uncomfortable due to his injuries, was not unwelcome. And the heat radiating from Duo inflamed him, making his face darken. It was not like the terrible, cruel heat of the desert. This was a flame from a kiln just below his abdomen. What was this? What was going on? And then realization hit him like a punch in the gut.  
  
* Kuso. * was his next thought.  
  
"Heero? You okay?" Duo asked.  
  
* Get off me! *  
  
He tried to roll over, to push Duo away from him, but to his dismay, he couldn't lift his arms. His muscles barely responded to his commands, just clenching weakly as he struggled to move. Then he tried to speak, but all that came out was a wordless groan. He closed his eyes in humiliation and frustration. ~What was going on?~  
  
"Oh no, don't do that. C'mon, Heero, stay with me, buddy," he heard Duo say, and then felt light but stinging slaps administered to his face. He opened his eyes again to glare up at him. Duo only smiled in relief. "Good. Don't pass out just yet, okay? Need to check and see if you have a concussion first."  
  
Duo pulled himself up and off of Heero, who shivered as soon as the air-conditioned air met previously warmed flesh. He quelled a pang of loss, harshly strangling it before it finished forming. Then Duo knelt, slipping his arms behind Heero's shoulders and thighs and lifting the Japanese boy off the floor. Heero tensed his pathetically weak muscles and glared for all he was worth. Surely this must be worse than any torture OZ could dream up for its prisoners. He hated to be so helpless.  
  
Duo set him down on the bed, propping him in a half-sitting position with pillows. Then he knelt on the bed beside him. As there was not much he could do to stop the other, he endured a sometimes painful examination of his head. Finally, Duo sat back on his heels, staring at him and shaking his head. He gave a low whistle.  
  
"Man, I want to know if that Dr. J guy replaced your skull with gundanium. No concussion, just some bruising," Duo said, scratching the back of his head. His hands were shaking. "I'm just going to go tell Wufei. And before you ask, I have no idea what went on out there, or why you passed out in the first place, or if Quatre's okay. You stay here and..."  
  
He trailed off, his eyes unfocusing. He shook his head as if to clear it, but this only seemed to make him dizzy.  
  
"Stay here and - g-get some... rest... " he said, then slowly toppled over. He was unconscious before his head hit the mattress.  
  
Heero waited for the matress to stop jouncing. He took a small measure of guilty comfort that he was not the only one so incredibly drained. He stared blankly for a while, his confused emotions and thoughts buzzing in his head until darkness overtook him for the third time that day.  
  
  
  
  
END PART SEVEN  
  
  
  
  
Eros: Wow. Lots of black-outs and fainting in this part.  
  
Thalia: Overused plot device, or a government conspiracy?  
  
Psyche: It's all a conspiracy, man, it's the men in the black helicopters, man! They're trying to steal our thoughts, man, and make sure we don't ~know~ that they know that we know that they know that we ~know~ about them, man!  
  
Thalia and Eros: O_o  
  
Thalia: Was she like this when you two started dating?  
  
Eros:...............  
  
Psyche: REEEEEVIIIIIIIEEEEEW, man!  



	9. Part Eight

Author's Note: Heh-heh... ^^;; Sorry for the delay, minna. I got a summer job, and this means that I have to live away from all civilization (a.k.a.: My Dad's House) and this means (dun Dun DUN!) no Internet. Waaaaaahhhhh!!!! I hate my job, too. Pity me.  
  
Thalia: Oh, quit yer bitchin'! You gots it easy.  
  
Eros: Yeah, you should try being a ~muse~! It's hard work?  
  
_ Yesterday, you sat on the couch, drank soda, and watched all my Escaflowne tapes, or got up to pester me with song-fic ideas when you KNOW I can't write song-fics.  
  
Psyche: You think it's EASY coming up with song-fic ideas?  
  
Well, considering that you gave them to me for EVERY song I heard at work, yes.  
  
Thalia: Shut up, you fools!  
  
Psyche: Heh, that's funny. The Muse of Comedy calling ~us~ fools.  
  
She's right, though. We have a fic to write, and no time to do it in. Now, let's get started.  
  
Muses: Yeah, yeah, whatever...  
  
  
DISCLAIMER: Don't own Gundam Wing. So there. Nyah! * thoughts * ~emphasis~ *(psychic/empathic thoughts/emotions)*  
  
  
  
  
PART EIGHT  
  
  
  
  
Trowa padded silently down the hall, trying to bury his nervousness behind a cool facade.   
  
* There is nothing behind me. I will not look over my shoulder. *  
  
His nerves were tingling. Whatever had happened in the main room of the basement was beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He fought with his senses over the incident. His logical mind desperately tried to rationalize while his superstition and memory contradicted every theory he could think of. It was not a hallucination. Three unconscious pilots attested to that fact. But was it really a... ghost or poltergeist that was causing all these problems, as Wufei seemed to think?   
  
Trowa resisted a snort of contempt. He was not unfamiliar with the mindset. At the circus, there was a fortune-teller. She read tarot cards, palms, tea leaves, and the stars to "predict" the circus-goers' future. It was a bit suspicious that almost all the people had the same future: they'd meet an attractive person of their sexual preference and come into a goodly sum of money. Almost everything she did had some sort of superstition attached to it, and she'd talk in depth and at length about her "powers" if one was too foolish to stop her.  
  
Granted, Wufei did not seem at all similar to her, and was capable in all other things. Something odd indeed was going down, but could such things as psychics and spirits truly exist?   
  
* ...If they don't, then how do you explain all this? How do you explain what happened to Quatre? *  
  
Quatre... the walking contradiction. The pacifist warrior. He was so open and gentle and caring, yet he was an enigma. He confused Trowa to no end, calm and self-possessed one moment, blushing and stammering the next. Assuming it wasn't a spirit that was doing this to him, what was it? A disease? Or something psychological? Trowa found himself seriously doubting these theories. Diseases have symptoms, as do mental disorders. Pilot 04 had exhibited no sign of either.  
  
* Unless you count spontaneous facial capilary expansion. * Trowa thought in a rare flash of humor.   
  
He was well aware of Quatre's interest in him. The thought was alien to him. Not because it was a male that was attracted to him, but that it was ~Quatre~. His tainted purity, stained innocence was so sad, and drew Trowa like a moth to the flame. The boy filled him with emotion every time they met. And it was... troubling. He'd thought himself totally devoid of feeling and had been adapting to that. But one smile from Quatre would set his heart beating.  
  
He didn't want to feel this way. There was a war going on. They were supposed to be completely focused on fighting, on creating peace. Personal lives were insignificant, nonexistent to a true soldier. Not to mention the complications a relationship with a fellow gundam pilot would create. And yet...  
  
* I held him. I had my arms around him... even if it was only to keep him from convulsing. *  
  
He felt warm, despite the cool air of the hall.   
  
He'd reached Heero's room. A cursory check proved that Duo and Heero were not there. He continued down the hall.   
  
* And even if it'd been psychosomatic with Quatre, how could you explain what happened to Heero? *  
  
Heero was definitely not prone to nosebleeds. Even if he was, it would be a bit of a coincidence that one would begin seconds after grabbing onto Wufei and Duo. And Duo was an entirely different matter, playing the role of the reluctant participant. The whole thing didn't add up, at least not ~logically~.  
  
* So that leaves only one viable solution: There is something Wufei, Duo, and Quatre can sense that affects the rest of us, even if we ourselves aren't able to sense it. *  
  
Duo's room had all its lights on, but Trowa's hopes of finding a conscious person to help him organize a plan of action were in vain. Heero lay half-sitting and shirtless, and Duo himself was sprawled across the remaining portion of the bed. Trowa frowned. He'd have to carry both of them back to the living room, where he could keep watch on them. He sincerely hoped that they all would recover. He didn't even want to think about how long it would take to repair all four gundams alone.  
  
When he's arrived at Heero's side, he reached down and took his pulse. While he counted the appallingly slow beats, he observed Heero's pale and exhausted face. His skin was cool to the touch. If it weren't for the fact that his heart was indeed beating and his breath was coming evenly, Trowa would have thought Heero to be a corpse in which rigor mortis had not yet begun. The tall pilot repressed a chill. He released him, possibly with more haste than absolutely necessary, and moved on to Duo. The braided boy was doing slightly better, more color to his face and his breathing not quite as labored.   
  
Satisfied that they were safe to move, he heaved their limp forms up over his shoulders. He was profoundly glad that his balance was good enough to handle both burdens with a minimum of staggering. It would be a long walk back to the common room.  
  
  
  
  
Heero woke with uncharacteristic leisure, his consciousness sliding on the black border of sleep. His dreams had been either nonexistent or untroubled; he had no recollection of them. He basked in warmth created by his own body, flexing his fingers around the edge of the blanket and drawing it closer. He sighed slightly, almost slipping back to sleep. He was dragged roughly back, though, by a sudden loud ~thud~ from the area next to his head.  
  
He sat up instantly, hand reaching for a gun - only to find that it wasn't there and then grab the edge of the couch in an attempt to steady himself. The room was spinning... or was that his head? When the dizziness had passed, he looked down to ascertain from whence the sound had originated.  
  
Duo lay half-on, half-off his couch, his upper body sprawled across the carpet and his legs still propped on the cushions. He hadn't woken up in his fall or the landing. Heero glanced blearily around, wondering who'd brought them out here and if that person was around to help. Quatre and Wufei were lying unmoving on their makeshift beds, looking worse for wear. Trowa was absent. He assimilated all this rapidly, then sighed again, even more unnoticeable than before. He heaved his leaden limbs up and slid out of the blankets, the bite of the chill air dispelling the last remnants of drowsiness.  
  
He was immensely pleased that he was no longer too weak to move, and soon was gathering Duo's torso in his arms and lifting him back onto the sofa. It took more effort than it should have, leaving Heero panting and trembling with exertion. After he finally managed to shove Duo back onto his bed, he collapsed and leaned against the couch for support while he tried to catch his breath. He tilted his head back to gulp the air, his eyes closing of their own accord.  
  
Suddenly, there was something warm and heavy draped over his shoulder. He jerked and looked over. It was Duo's forearm and hand; the American had shifted in his sleep. Heero froze and stared at the hand. It was tanned and long-fingered, calloused like his own from the controls of a mobile suit and the maintenance work. It rested just past his shoulder but not quite to his chest, and was very warm to his bare skin, causing the flesh around it to contract. Duo made a small murmuring noise into his pillow and flexed his fingers. It felt...  
  
Heero roughly pulled away, scooting in a rather undignified manner back to his own couch. He scrambled up into his still-heated blankets, and glared at the ceiling as he fought for control. He felt like his whole body was blushing. It was not acceptable. How long had he felt this way without realizing it? And what ~exactly~ was he feeling? He could deal with lust. It was a distraction, and he could handle distractions. But if it was based in honest emotion... which emotion would that be? He was certain that this went past the boundaries defined by comradery or friendship. Then was this... affection? Caring? Alien from such things, Heero didn't know.  
  
And it certainly wasn't the time to be fixated on trivial things. There was the matter of what went on last night after he'd passed out. Since Duo had said he didn't know, and Wufei and Quatre were incapacitated, that left only Trowa, who was nowhere to be seen. This left him only two options: go back to sleep and recover, or get up and try to find Trowa.   
  
He was disgusted with the slow motions of his arms and legs as he got out of his blankets for a second time and began to stagger towards the stairs. He fought back dizziness as he went along, determined to find the pilot of Heavyarms even if he had to crawl to do it. After an arduous fifteen minutes, he finally got to the top of the stairs, and he very nearly collapsed again. He leaned against the wall and rested for a few moments, catching his breath.   
  
"You shouldn't be up yet," Trowa's soft baritone floated to his ears through his haze of exhaustion. He turned his head slightly to see Trowa coming down the hall to his right.  
  
"Hn," he managed to respond. Trowa wordlessly came up to him and slipped his arm around his shoulders. Though at once grateful for and insulted at this, Heero let it be and asked, "Where were you?"  
  
"Rashid's office. I was doing a little research," Trowa said, leading Heero down the hallway. The Japanese teen quirked an eyebrow at this, but decided to wait and see what exactly he meant.   
  
Rashid's office was a large room with darkwood bookcases lining the walls. The thick carpet was deep red, patterned with black swirls. Trowa maneuvered him across the plush expanse to a desk cluttered with papers, knick-knacks, and the odd small mobile suit component. Heero allowed himself to be ensconced in the over-stuffed, worn leather chair in front of the computer terminal. He scanned the screen; the data displayed seemed to be dates and times.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"The email message record for this base. I wanted to know just where the Maguanacs went, so I could contact them if the situation got worse. I found something... unexpected. Look here."  
  
Trowa used the keyboard to cue up a specific record. A message appeared. Heero read it, trying not to squint as his sight went in and out of focus. He frowned. It was extremely vague, but worded so urgently as to demand immediate attention. The exact problem and location were merely hinted at; the sender had used private references to supposed colleagues and such to describe things.   
  
"This means nothing," Heero concluded.  
  
"Right. So I traced the mail. I thought it would give me a clue," Trowa once again leaned over to tap at the keyboard. The screen went blank and then abruptly brightened, various information flashing by too quickly to follow. Eventually it slowed and then stopped completely, the cursor blinking at the end of the last line. Heero felt his eyes widen fractionally.  
  
The sender address was the same as the receiver address.  
  
"Who sent that email?"  
  
Trowa shrugged. "There are many terminals in this house, and no video cameras. And even if we did know who was at which computer, it could have been on a time-delay send mode, and impossible to trace anyway."  
  
A creak alerted them to the study door opening. In the doorway stood a very disheveled and sickly-looking Quatre. The blonde stared with blank eyes at them, then began to creep across the floor. He walked like a string puppet, his movements too jerky and unrefined, not at all with the grace Quatre usually had. Heero felt his skin crawl. Something was very, very wrong.   
  
The air in the room thickened, reeking of carrion and dust. Trowa seemed to be stunned into immobility as Quatre emotionlessly plodded across the floor and drew back his fist. Whatever little strength Heero had was sapped from him, and he couldn't reach out in time to stop him. Quatre spun the computer screen around and punched through the glass. Trowa leapt over to the wall and yanked the cord out of the wall just as the smell of burnt hair permeated the room. Quatre drew his bleeding hand out of the wreckage of the computer screen, his hair standing on end from the brief electrocution he'd received.   
  
"Quatre!" Trowa finally seemed to have found his voice. "What are you doing?"  
  
Quatre turned a blank stare at him and opened his mouth. A voice like the howling desert wind poured out, relentless, dry, almost shrieking.  
  
"WE ARE NOT QUATRE," the thing that wasn't Quatre said.  
  
"Who are you?" Heero asked.  
  
Quatre opened his mouth again, the ungodly howl of wind beginning then flickering out into a human shout. Quatre face contorted with sudden pain, and he crumpled to the carpet. Trowa rushed to his side.  
  
  
  
  
For the second time in twenty-four hours, Trowa pulled Quatre into his arms. The smaller boy was shaking uncontrollably in agony. He clung to Trowa like a limpet.  
  
"T-Trowa! I - I fought it off for a second... I'm sorry. I'm not strong enough to - throw it off completely, I - " Quatre babbled breathlessly. He squinted his eyes in pain, a strained whimper issuing from his throat. "I - c-can't fight it much l-longer!"  
  
"Quatre, stay with me," Trowa said, his voice a strained whisper.   
  
"I'm - trying. Trowa, it might be t-too late for me... It's too dangerous for y-you or the others to stay. Get away before this thing gets you, too!" Quatre gave a wordless cry, tensing against Trowa's chest. The tall pilot clutched him tightly until it passed.  
  
"Quatre, how can we help? How can we save you?" Trowa demanded, his eyes pleading.   
  
"I - don't know. Ask Wufei, when h-he's better, I think - he'll know. It's weak now, I think that controlling my body takes - a lot of its - energy. That's why I can - get thro- " the word turned into another almost-scream. When it passed, Quatre's big aquamarine eyes were tear-filled as he stared up at Trowa. He reached his trembling uninjured hand up to caress Trowa's face."It's c-coming back. I- don't have much time. I w-want you to know that I - love y-you, and -"  
  
He went limp, his sweaty palm falling from Trowa's cheek. Then he tensed again. Trowa felt ill as the beautiful eyes that stared at him went cold and dead.  
  
"LEAVE THIS ONE. HE IS OURS NOW," the voice of the thing said through Quatre's lips.  
  
Quatre's body once again became a deadweight, and perfect silence reigned. Trowa barely heard Heero get out of the chair, and only responded when he felt him shaking his shoulder.  
  
"We have to get him downstairs. Then we can prepare for when Wufei and Duo wake up."  
  
"Yeah," Trowa heard himself say in a dull, thick sort of voice.   
  
"Trowa."  
  
"Yeah?" He turned to look fully at Heero, hoping he wasn't giving away all his emotions. Heero looked deadly serious.  
  
"We're going to save Quatre," he promised. Trowa felt a glimmer of hope at hearing him say it, and realized he was rubbing his cheek where the unconscious boy had touched him.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
  
  
  
END PART EIGHT  
  
  
  
  
Psyche: I'm surprised. It seems you actually struck a plot.  
  
No thanks to you three.  
  
Eros: And look, it only took eight parts, and a prologue.  
  
_ Shut up. Just shut up.  
  
Thalia: REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!!!  
  



	10. Part Nine

Author's Note: Right. Another day at my sucky job, another couple hours worth of minimum wage. Yay.  
  
Eros: There there. It'll be okay.  
  
Psyche: No it won't! Bwahahahaha!! ^____^ *sparkle sparkle*  
  
_  
  
Thalia: At least ~you~ get paid.  
  
Are you hinting?  
  
Thalia: ::heavily sarcastic:: Noooooo.  
  
Okay then. ^_^  
  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, okay? * thoughts * ~emphasis~ *(psychic/empathic thoughts/emotions)*  
  
  
  
  
PART NINE  
  
  
  
  
Quatre and Wufei were still unconscious four days later. Duo had recovered the morning after Quatre's episode, and when the event had been explained to him, he immediately went to Wufei's side and tried to wake him. Of course there had been no response. As there was no help for the moment, they'd decided that repairing the gundams would take priority over tending two not seriously - at least ~physically~ - wounded people. Trowa and Duo both had insisted, quite wisely, that one person keep watch while the other two worked.   
  
"Quatre might have another freak-out session," Duo thought out loud. "Someone should be here to keep him from hurting himself."  
  
The phrase "or one of us" was left unsaid, but it hovered ominously in the air.  
  
They divided the day into three shifts. Trowa took from breakfast to lunch, Duo from lunch to dinner, and Heero from dinner to midnight. Duo felt he got the worst shift, as the time he had to work on Deathscythe was split in two. Heero brooded heavily each time he came to relieve Duo, though whether for worry over his fellow pilots or at taking time away from repairing Wing no one could guess. Once or twice, Duo caught himself uncharitably thinking the latter.  
  
"Nahhh," he said out loud one of these times. He was almost to the end of his shift, and tended to get anxious to get back to work. He tried to assuage this by talking to the "patients." "He's got to care about you guys. I mean, if he didn't, why would he promise Trowa we would save Quatre? He's a pretty deep guy, I guess. Under all that big bad spandex, he's got a heart of gold."  
  
Wufei, his chosen focus for the moment, was silent.  
  
"Wu, you're not shouting at me to shut up, so you must agree," he went on. He leaned back against the chair he was sitting in, clasping his hands together behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. "I wonder 'bout him...."  
  
Truth be told, he did a lot more than mere ~wondering~. He often found his thoughts coming back to the intense blue eyes and rare, cocky smirk. He was uncomfortable when Heero was too near him; his thoughts became muddled in his head and he found himself running off at the mouth more than usual. And once or twice he'd woken up in a sweat, biting his tongue to keep from calling out Heero's name. He had no idea what was going on.  
  
* Geeze. I don't even really know the guy, and I'm having nightmares about him or something. Maybe it's whatever the hell is in this house that's causing it. Trying to psyche me out. *  
  
"Psyche," he mumbled. "Hah."  
  
So, he was a psychic. What did that mean, exactly? Were there rules? Did he have to follow the Psychic's Creed now? Did he have to get a deck of weird cards and a crystal ball, and were black clothes all the time?  
  
* Well, I got the clothes part covered. *  
  
And how did he use this new talent? He had to find out. He couldn't let it come between him and saving the colonies. But controlling it would probably not be easy. It seemed to come and go a lot. He'd be tightening the bolts in his gundam's cockpit and get a crawly feeling on the back of his neck. It creeped him out to no end, especially after what had happened to Heero when he'd been repairing Wing a few days ago.  
  
"It feels like freaking forever, though. Right Wu?"  
  
He looked down at Wufei again.   
  
*(-------...Duo...---....---.....---- )*  
  
Duo blinked. He could have sworn he'd heard Wufei's voice.   
  
*( -------....Help me.... --------.....Duo...------ )*  
  
"Ummm..." he said, at a loss for words.  
  
Then suddenly he ~felt~ it. Energy, not the kind of the thing that was possessing Quatre, was floating above Wufei. It was red, with swirls of gold and orange. It may as well have spelt out "I AM WUFEI" in bubble letters.  
  
"Wufei?" Duo asked.  
  
"Duo."  
  
Duo turned to see Heero at the foot of the stairs.  
  
"It's my shift," Heero said, coming to stand a few feet away. "You can get back to work now."  
  
"I - can't go just yet," Duo replied, his gaze sliding back towards the ceiling. The mass of red was still there. "Do you see that, or is it a - a psychic thing?"  
  
Heero looked up and scowled. "I see nothing."  
  
Duo nodded. "That's what I thought."  
  
* Wufei? * he thought hesitantly. * Is that you? *  
  
There was on response.  
  
* WUFEI! IS THAT YOU? * he tried again.  
  
"What's going on?" Heero asked, craning his neck to see what Duo was staring at.  
  
"Shut up a minute, would ya?" Duo snapped, glaring at Heero, who quirked an eyebrow at that rather ironic demand. Duo felt a bit silly as a tiny blush crept up his face, but he had something more important to do. "I need to concentrate. I think... there's something wrong with Wufei. He's floating on the ceiling. At least, I think that's him. So ummm.... Be quiet, okay?"  
  
"Okay," Heero agreed, eying Duo warily.  
  
Duo wished he wouldn't stare, as it made him blush harder. He felt even more silly as he closed his eyes. He could still ~feel~ the red energy on the ceiling. He found himself drawn somehow ~nearer~ to it. He flicked his eyes open momentarily and was surprised to find himself standing next to Wufei's head. He glanced over at Heero, who was still watching him like a hawk. He looked away quickly and shut his eyes again. Once again the world was dark except for the misty red stuff that seemed to be Wufei. He ~reached~ out - and stopped. There was a sort of tendril of dark, smokey indigo energy creeping toward the red. He drew back with a gasp. The tendril disappeared from his "vision." A trickle of understanding lit in his mind, and he stretched himself out again. The pseudopod reappeared, and he sighed in relief. ~He~ was the indigo energy.   
  
Trying to brace himself, he finished the motion. The indigo "feeler" connected to the red.  
  
Duo gave a startled cry as he was swept up into Wufei's mind. Jumbled memories, thoughts, and emotions jostled him. He felt himself falling deeper, deeper, past the conscious, past the subconscious. Finally, he stopped. Red strands had snared him. He couldn't move farther in. It was a relief. He didn't want to know what lay in Wufei's heart of hearts. It was too intimate.  
  
*(DUO.)*  
  
Duo winced. Here Wufei's voice was so loud... He guessed it made sense, it being inside the Chinese boy's own head and all.  
  
*(Yeah. Sorry to bust in on you, but - )* he thought sheepishly.   
  
*(IT IS ALL RIGHT. YOU ARE INEXPERIENCED AND UNGUIDED. I WAS PREPARED. BESIDES WHICH, THIS SHARING OF MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS IS MUTUAL.)*   
  
Duo tried to glare through his embarrassment and chagrin, but he remembered that he didn't have eyes here. Wufei had seen into him as well?  
  
*(DON'T WORRY. I DIDN'T LOOK. MUCH.)*   
  
*(You think this is funny, don't you?)*  
  
All he got in response was an odd gold and yellow ripple. He realized with a start that it was psychic laughter.  
  
*(So what's going on? Why aren't you in your body?)* He decided to get straight to business. This was rather unnerving, especially because he couldn't really ~feel~ his own body anymore.  
  
*(I CAN'T MAKE IT BACK. IT SEEMS MY BODY IS OCCUPIED.)*  
  
*(Occupied? By what?)*  
  
*(LOOK FOR YOURSELF.)*  
  
Duo got the impression that Wufei was gesturing, and he opened his eyes. His hands were cupping Wufei's face, and he blinked down at them. His head was throbbing, and his eyes didn't seem to be focusing properly. It was a sort of double vision, like he had his eyes crossed.  
  
*(In a way, you do)* Wufei's mindvoice said, much more quiet now.  
  
*(Quit reading my thoughts, man. It's just too weird.)* Duo said. *(And don't get all cryptic. What do you mean by that?)*  
  
*(You're trying to look at energy with your physical eyes, and so is your - uh - "third eye," so to speak. The images get mixed up in your mind. You have to separate them.)*  
  
"Right. A piece of cake," he said, then realized he was talking aloud. He mentally kicked himself as Wufei "chuckled" and Heero looked at him. He didn't have time to explain; he knew this was urgent or Wufei wouldn't have contacted him.   
  
* Okay, third eye. Right. Umm.... *  
  
He concentrated on the double image of Wufei. Which one was the physical, and which was the ethereal? He felt so clueless it wasn't even funny. He clenched his jaw. He ~had~ to find it. There was no way around the fact. He decided to just choose one and go with it. After all, he had a fifty-fifty chance, right? Not bad odds. He grimaced as he forced himself to focus on just one Wufei.  
  
He knew immediately he'd chosen his astral vision because the whole rest of the world went black. It was just him and a prone body that seemed to float in space. He looked down to see that he wasn't kneeling on any floor, just a strange solid darkness. He swallowed hard and returned to gazing at his friend. There was no color in the body. It was just a grayish, neutral shell. Duo repressed a shudder. He wanted to draw his hands away, but didn't. He still had to see what Wufei meant when he'd said his body was "occupied."  
  
Wufei's eyes suddenly opened. Duo jerked in surprise.   
  
* I knew Wu-man's eyes were dark, but that's just freaky....*  
  
His eyes were completely black, like holes into nothingness; there was no white, no iris, no pupil. Duo had a horrible sickening feeling that the thing inside Wufei's body was staring at him. Oppressive heat surrounded him, pressing him back and away, blackness darker than the surrounding emptiness swelling to block his eyes. Then there was a flare of red, and Duo found himself flung harshly back into his own head.   
  
He released Wufei's face as if it had turned red hot and fell backward onto the floor, panting.  
  
"Wh-what the hell...?" he muttered.  
  
"Duo. Are you all right?" Heero asked as he knelt next to his prone form.  
  
"Ah... I guess so. No permanent damage, anyway. I... don't think I'm done, though," Duo explained, resisting a groan as he sat up. He wiped his forehead and found his bangs wet with sweat. He made a face. "Ew, gross. I need a shower."  
  
"Baka," Heero accused, but there was a strange undercurrent to the insult that made Duo look at him. The Japanese boy's face was as unreadable as ever. Or was it? Duo was seeing double again. He felt a sudden strong desire to see what Heero's astral self looked like. Wufei was red, he was indigo. What color was Heero?  
  
Duo braced himself to open his "third eye" and was surprised to find that it was much easier than the first time. The world went dark again, accept for Heero. Duo caught a glimpse of brilliant cobalt blue and... something else... He couldn't make out what it was. He went nearer for a closer look.  
  
"What are you doing?" Heero asked sharply, snapping him into the physical world.   
  
In a rush of awareness, he realized that he was barely an inch away from Heero's face, staring directly in to widened blue eyes. His hands were on Heero's upper arms. He could feel the tension in the muscles beneath his fingers, and knew that Heero was holding back, but just barely. Duo released him and leaned back as far as he could.  
  
"Uh... Sorry," he stammered, yet another blush heating his face. "I - um... Just... sorry."  
  
*(----Duo...----touch.....----....the body....---...again....-----)* Wufei said.  
  
He turned away and his eyes lit with distaste on Wufei's possessed body. He really, really didn't want to touch it. The ~thing~ was in it. But if the resident psychic expert thought it would be okay...  
  
He gingerly clasped a golden-skinned hand.  
  
*(Wu? You there?)*  
  
*(Yeah.)*  
  
*(What the hell is going on?)*  
  
*(I've been displaced. The night when we were talking, I did a sort of mind-meld with Quatre. I found out that the thing had gotten to his core self. When I passed out afterward, the presense tried to tap into my life force as well. But it ran into the same thing you did, my center shield. When it realized that my shield was impenetrable, it got... upset. It engaged in a astral battle. In my weakened state - )*  
  
Duo sensed a sickly greenish-gray wave of self-hatred and guilt roll off of Wufei, surprising him.  
  
*( - I couldn't defend myself well enough. It dislodged me from my body. I have failed you all.)*  
  
The braided pilot bit his lip. He'd known that Wufei was prone to depression, ever since the failed attempt on Treize's life. But this was certainly not the Chinese boy's fault.  
  
*(No you didn't, man. You've done more good here than anyone else. Without your help, we'd all have been lost. What's one battle? We've still got a whole war to wage.)* Duo told him, trying to send some good vibes Wufei's way. All he got in response was a sort of "shrugging" feeling.  
  
*(I've got some information on the thing.)* Wufei changed the subject, obviously not comfortable.  
  
*(Really?)* Duo asked, perking up a bit.  
  
*(In my non-physical form, I've been able to observe it more closely.)*  
  
*(Do you know what it is?)*   
  
*(No... not yet. I ~do~ know what it is not. We have been operating on the assumption that it is a single entity. I am now finding that this is not quite true.)*  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Duo frowned, once again confusing his mental voice for his physical one.  
  
*(I'm not exactly sure. The energy it's giving off is too great and too confused. It's like a thousand voices shouting at the same time. Give me some more time. I'm going to try a few more things.)*  
  
Maybe it was because he was getting a bit paranoid, or maybe it was because he knew Wufei a lot better now that he'd been inside his mind, but either way, Duo was instantly suspicious. Was Wufei going to do something stupid just to prove that he was "strong"?  
  
*(What sort of "things," Wu-man?)*  
  
*(Don't call me that. And nothing that I can't handle.)* Wufei thought at him, defensively. *(If you need to contact me, just touch my body. Don't worry about the presence inside. It's being held dormant by some traps I'd set to prevent this very situation.)*  
  
*(What, encountering a weird all-pervading dark energy that no one's ever noticed before while hanging out at Quatre's place?)* Duo teased lightly. Well, as lightly as he could given the circumstances.  
  
*(Yes. That's it.)* Sarcasm washed heavily over Duo, who grinned. *(I meant possession, smart-ass.)*  
  
*(Then what happened when I was looking at it?)*  
  
*(It was trying to tap into you. But thanks to said traps, it was unable to.)*  
  
Duo assimilated this. That would explain the flash of Wufei's aura color just before he'd been kicked back.  
  
*(Oh. Thanks, Wu. One more thing.)*  
  
*(What?)* Wufei demanded, obviously impatient and mildly annoyed.  
  
*(Is it okay with you if us guys with bodies fix your Gundam for you?)*  
  
Vague surprise floated back. *(I'd almost forgotten. I accept your offer.)*  
  
As Wufei relayed this information, Duo felt the red energy dissolve into the astral plane like sugar into water. He let go of the hand he held and sat back on his heels. His head swam from all the experiences and information, and he was so tired. Fighting a yawn, he scrubbed his sweaty face with his hands. All this was too weird for words. A soft shifting noise from behind him reminded him that Heero was still there.  
  
* God, I'm turning into even ~more~ of a space case. I kinda blanked out Heero. *  
  
"I bet you're wondering what the hell all this was about," he said, this time making certain he was using the verbal sort of communication.  
  
"Aa," Heero responded.  
  
"You might want to sit down and get comfy. This'll take a while."  
  
  
  
  
END PART NINE  
  
  
  
  
Thalia and Eros: ZZZZZZZZ...  
  
Psyche: ::pauses in slurping soda:: BOOOOOORRRIIIIIIIIIINNNGGG!  
  
::whaps muse::   
  
Psyche: Ow! What was that for?  
  
What do ~you~ think?   
  
Psyche: Well, what other word would you use to describe this chapter?  
  
~I~ would say it was... uh... Important in the development of the plot and characters. Yeah, that sounds good...  
  
Psyche: Riiiight.  
  
REEEEEEEEEEVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!  
  
Psyche: Oh, what, it's my turn for the sign? Goody. ::holds up sign that reads "Send all Comments and Criticism to bek240@yahoo.com " 


	11. Part Ten

Author's Note: Sorry for the tremendous delay! It's pretty hectic around here, what with all the shenanigans and goings-on. I'm going on a vacation tomorrow. Wisconsin, here I come. With my mother and my sister. What fun.  
  
Eros: Enough bitching. More writing.  
  
Okay, okay... I hope the length of this chapter makes up for having to wait for it so long... not that I think anyone is even paying attention anymore... ^^;;  
  
DISCLAIMER: Don't own GW, etc... Don't sue.  
  
  
  
  
  
PART TEN  
  
  
  
  
  
Once again, Heero couldn't sleep. He knew he should, considering that he was still recovering from having his life force drained, but his mind buzzed, demanding his attention.   
  
So, Wufei was not out of the picture. This was good. It meant that they'd have a contact on the "other side" so to speak. Any information regarding the presence in the house would be of use. Heero did not share Duo's wariness. He trusted Wufei's judgement; the Chinese boy knew his own limits. If anything went wrong, it would not be his fault. Though convincing ~him~ of that would be another matter entirely. He seemed to have a guilt complex.  
  
Trowa was showing strain, though. Heero knew he wasn't sleeping, and when sheer exhaustion forced him to, it was uneasy. No doubt he cared for Quatre as much as Quatre cared for him. It bothered him, this inaction. Trowa was of few words, obviously, and thought actions were a better way of expression. Being so helpless against an unseen enemy was driving him insane. Heero understood that. It was one of the few things going on he ~did~ understand.   
  
He himself was coping as well as he could. The Gundams were finished at last, and he, Trowa, and Duo would be starting on Shenlong tomorrow at Wufei's request. The work would go much faster with the three pilots working together. They'd be able to move out within the week. From his communications with Dr. J, he knew that they were sorely needed. OZ was militarizing the colonies, and an informant in space had told of OZ's plans to mass produce mobile dolls on the moon. The upgrades the gundams needed for space would take a while, but the base was stocked with the special materials needed. If things went according to schedule, a month or so would be enough time.  
  
But the Gundams would be useless without all five pilots...  
  
Heero clenched his jaw determinedly.  
  
* We've ~got~ to save Quatre and Wufei. There is no alternative. *  
  
But no one seemed to know ~how~ to do that. Hell, no one even knew what they were up against in the first place, much less how to fight it. And Duo didn't seem to know what to do with his powers. Heero suspected that there was a lot more going on than the inexperienced psychic could sense. Duo knew better than to meddle with what he didn't understand. At least, Heero ~hoped~ he did. Otherwise, they'd all be in trouble...  
  
He carefully avoided thinking too long on Duo, as that would snap him back to total consciousness. He was finally sinking into slumber, thoughts becoming more abstract as his brain waves slowed.   
  
  
  
  
Wind whipped sand in his eyes. He realized where he was within nanoseconds, and resisted the urge to scream.   
  
* No, not again! *  
  
He rubbed the silica from his eyes, which reacted by immediately watering profusely. He wiped at his face and looked around. He stood on a strange blank plateau that rose out of the dunes as a monster rises from the depths of the sea. The sky shimmered in heat waves... and something else. Something evil roiled around him like clouds in a storm. Lines of dead people came from all directions. Heero squinted against the harsh light of the sun, and looked closer. They weren't stopping at the base; they were going ~into the plateau~. He could see them sinking into the sand and disappearing, one after another.  
  
* So... this is where they were going... *   
  
"Help! Somebody, please help me!"  
  
The cry echoed and re-echoed across the barren desert. It was Quatre's frightened voice, coming from behind him, from the center of the plateau. Heero ran towards it, afraid of what he would see.   
  
At the exact center was a large circular indentation, filled with sand. For a moment, Heero couldn't tell what the writhing mass in the middle of the pit was. Then he realized it was Quatre. But covering every inch of his small body were hands, hundreds of them, constantly shifting. Some released their hold to sink below the sand, and others rose out to take their place. They were all of varying states of decay, some nearly skeletal, some green and puffy or slimy, some dried and mummified, and some that could almost pass for living hands. Heero felt his face slip into a mask of horrified shock.  
  
The hands covering Quatre's face cleared away, and the blonde's terrified eyes lit on Heero. Surprise and confusion appeared in them, and he cried out as he struggled against the restraints. He came close to throwing them off, but even more reared up, whole arms emerging from the sand to grab and hold him. He kept his eyes fixed on Heero until he was once again completely enveloped.  
  
Heero could not move. He couldn't turn away from the site. He had to do something to help. But what?  
  
Quatre's face appeared again, though a disgusting bloated hand was firmly clamped over his mouth. The Arabian looked at him helplessly, hopelessly. Tears spilled down his sunburned cheeks.  
  
The desert drank these pain-filled offerings with implacable thirst, the wind blowing harder to demand more, more, more...  
  
And then he felt deadly cold. Rage like an arctic blizzard filled him, extinguishing some of the heat. He turned, ~knowing~ what he'd see. As he'd thought, it was The Girl, as he'd started thinking of her as. She appeared somber and angry as well, her gaze piercing him. Those unfathomable eyes held his seething fury in check.  
  
"Bring help," The Girl commanded.   
  
"How?" Heero asked.  
  
The Girl didn't have time to answer. Hands wrapped firmly around his ankles, tripping him. He hit the ground with a started gasp. This was quickly stifled as even more hands reached up through the earth and gripped him. He struggled against them, but as soon as he could shake them off, even more would take their place. They restrained him with relentless, inevitable strength, and covered his mouth when he cried out.  
  
  
  
  
"Heero!" Duo sat bolt upright in bed, and his head swam as blood rushed away from his brain.   
  
* It's just like last time. I knew then and I know now. * *(Heero's in trouble.) *  
  
He leapt out of his bed and bounded over to where Heero was sleeping. By quickly switching to "psychic mode," as he had dubbed it, he could tell that black ethereal ichor fairly oozed across Heero's body. Every so often there would be a break in the darkness, and Heero's bright blue aura would shine through. It was still tinted with that strangeness that Duo had felt earlier, but the braided boy didn't have time to ponder it. The colors above the Heero's core, which shifted rapidly from poison green to red to black and any number in between, could only mean great distress.  
  
* What do I do? What do I ~do~?! *  
  
He found his gaze falling on Wufei's motionless form. He took a deep breath.   
  
* Okay. Calm down, and talk to Wu. He'll know. Hopefully. *  
  
He crossed to Wufei's side and reluctantly touched the possessed body's hand.  
  
*(WUUUUUUUUU--FEEEEEEEIIIIIIIII!!!!)* he "shouted" mentally. There was a long silence, and for a sickening moment, Duo was sure Wufei had been lost to the presence.  
  
*(What is it, Maxwell?)* Wufei's mind-voice finally barked. He sounded worried.  
  
*(Heero's in trouble with the thingy. It's... Um... )* Duo didn't know how to describe it.   
  
*(I can see the image in your mind. It looks like it's trying to possess him.)*  
  
*(Why can't it?)*  
  
*(... I don't know. There's something... odd about Heero's aura.)* Duo didn't like that. Wufei sounded puzzled.   
  
* The ~last~ thing I need is a mentor who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. *  
  
*(What should I do, Wufei?)*  
  
*(Do you know how to make a shield?)* Wufei asked.  
  
"What do you think?" Duo snapped aloud, then caught himself when Trowa stirred.   
  
Wufei "sighed" in frustration. *(Let me think for a moment.)*  
  
Duo bit his lip in an impatient frown and looked back at Heero. The darkness was thicker now, and the gaps were few and far between. The American didn't realize how hard he was biting down until he tasted blood in his mouth. He looked back to Wufei as he licked his lips.  
  
*(Hurry up, Wu!)*  
  
*(Shut up and do as I say. This is going to be tricky without a body as an anchor. I'm going to put a shield around you. It might feel a bit... weird.)*  
  
He braced himself. A wave of shimmering red mesh seemingly came from nowhere and wrapped around him like a second skin. It felt similar to when he'd fallen into Wufei's head, only on a much less traumatic scale. Like being hugged, instead of tackled and assaulted.  
  
*(Now, go over to Heero. Concentrate your energy on your hands.)* Wufei said, his voice a whisper in his ear. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it made Duo wish for some personal space.  
  
He obeyed, nonetheless.  
  
*(Now what?)*  
  
*(Reach through to Heero and pull him out. I'll fight off the thing if it tries to follow.)*  
  
Duo thought about this for a second, then shrugged.   
  
* Here goes nothing. * he thought as he slid his indigo-covered hands through the darkness to grab Heero's shoulders.  
  
  
  
  
He was getting tired. The hands around him were sapping his energy, making him weaker and weaker. The stench of rotting flesh permeated his mouth and nostrils. He clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ached. He would not retch.  
  
The bony hand across his eyes crumpled back to the earth, and he could see. The Girl was staring at him, looking haggard. But he sensed, knew, that somehow ~she~ was protecting him. He could feel how the hands weakened under her gaze. But even she could not throw them off completely, and there were always more to take the place of the ones she affected. She would lose eventually.   
  
Just as a hand was reaching to cover his eyes again, Heero saw a bluish-purple sort of light. The sky opened above him, and long-fingered, calloused, but living hands reached down toward him. The Girl saw these as well and smiled brightly. There was an odd, tingling pulse. She was gone, but the hands holding his arms and torso let go as if they were being burned, snaking back underground.  
  
Heero reached and clung to the living hands for dear life. Darkness whirled around him, punctuated by red and indigo.  
  
  
  
  
* amiawakeordreamingstill? *  
  
Hands on his shoulders were shaking him.  
  
* hands *  
  
Dead, puffy, green flesh hanging off yellowish finger bones. They gripped him all over, shifting always, moving, groping. He shuddered, feeling sick to his stomach.   
  
"Heero! Wake up!"  
  
  
  
  
Heero opened his eyes, and felt much better for it. He was on his couch in the common room, right where he'd fallen asleep. He was drenched in cold sweat, his bangs clinging to his forehead. He shivered, noticing that his blankets had all been kicked off. Hands gripped his shoulders, but a glance at them proved they were living, vital. He followed them up. The dim glow from the adjustable overhead lights was just enough illumination for him to make out the worried expression on Duo's face.  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked.  
  
"Aa," Heero muttered, panting. He frowned in confusion. "How did you...?"  
  
"Uhh... Don't ask. I don't know how I knew, but Wufei told me how to save you. Sort of."  
  
"I see."  
  
There was a short pause. Heero looked down at his shoulders again, surprised that the American was still grabbing him. The warmth from Duo's palms seeped into his skin. It was... comforting. Unfortunately, Duo took the glance the wrong way, and hastily let go.  
  
"So it was another nightmare? About the evil possessing thingy?"Duo asked awkwardly as Heero sat up.  
  
"Aa."  
  
"D'you wanna talk about it?" Duo asked, a tiny solicitous note in his voice.  
  
Heero would have bristled at the tone - he didn't need to be humored like a frightened child - but he was too drained. Instead, he told Duo what had happened this time. To his self-disgust, he actually shuddered when he told of the hands. He had to close his eyes and try to regain his composure. It was just too early, too fresh in his mind. He could almost still feel them. His stomach twisted, and he swallowed hard. Duo was wisely silent.  
  
* Pull yourself together. * he commanded himself, forcing his eyes open again.   
  
"Then there was indigo light above me. I assume that was you," he said, silently thankful that his voice held steady. Duo nodded, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "The Girl made most of the hands release me, and I grabbed onto you, or you grabbed onto me. I'm not quite sure which. Then I woke up."  
  
Duo sighed heavily.  
  
"Man, this is getting weirder and weirder. Wufei, didja catch all that?" Duo tilted his head as if he were listening.  
  
Heero realized then that he must be hysterical, because he almost laughed. It looked for all the world like Duo was talking to an imaginary friend. He controlled himself, and concentrated on getting his breathing even. He would not crack under the pressure. He wasn't that weak.   
  
  
  
  
  
Wufei, who had indeed caught all that, thought with lightning speed, trying to make sense of it all. The confused voice of the presence, the sheer power of it, and Heero's dreams were all falling into place like puzzle pieces. It began to make sense.  
  
* Of course. That's it. It's got to be. * he thought.  
  
They were fighting lost souls. Angry souls, driven mad by their inability to pass on. But what had stopped them? And why were so many of them congregated ~here~? The answer to both questions eluded him still.  
  
*(But who's this chick in Heero's dreams? And what kept these "lost souls" from capturing Heero? Hell, why are they even trying to possess us?)* Duo questioned rapidly.  
  
*(They want our bodies, Duo.)* Wufei replied without thinking, upset that his train of thought was derailed.  
  
Duo didn't reply right away, but a wave of incredulity and amusement carried through the shield that connect them.  
  
*(Really? I didn't think dead people could have libidos.)*  
  
*(That's not what I meant and you know it.)*  
  
*(There's a joke in there about "stiffs" but I'm not gonna touch it.)*  
  
*(Maxwell!)* Wufei snapped, exasperated. He knew that if he were in his body, he'd be fighting off a blush. *(Be serious, dammit!)*  
  
*(All right, all right. Geeze, just trying to lighten the mood a bit.)*  
  
*(Look, when a person dies, sometimes the soul doesn't leave this plane. It doesn't know it's body is dead, or can't accept that it no longer has a physical manifestation. It is driven mad by the need to influence its surroundings. But it is not physical, it can't. So the logical thing is to find a physical form. They can't possess someone who isn't open, so normal people don't usually have this problem. But Quatre is a newtype, and we are psychic. We are at once more vulnerable and more protected. Understand?)*  
  
*(Uh... Sort of. Go on.)*  
  
*(The souls in this house are acting as a mob. The reason Quatre is unconscious and not currently being used as a vessel to the living world is probably because the souls are fighting against one another. It is hard enough for two souls to inhabit one body, that is why possession cased often end in death.)*  
  
*(So basically, they're like psychic tapeworms.)*  
  
Wufei "winced" at the comparison. *(Basically, yes. There is not room for many parasites in one host. That is why they want you, me, and Heero, in addition to Quatre. Trowa, being normal and blocked, is invisible to them.)*  
  
*(Speaking of the guy , got any theories.)*  
  
*(.....)* Wufei thought. There had been something different about pilot 01 from the beginning. What had his mentors called this talent? *(I think he is a dreamwalker.)*  
  
*(Huh?)*  
  
*(He is not psychic in the waking world, but his dreams take place in the astral plane. The orange sky in his dreams is representative of that. I don't know how I could have forgotten that.)*  
  
*(So you're saying he has prophetic dreams and stuff like that?)*  
  
*(That is one possibility, but I was thinking more along the lines that when he dreams, he sees the astral realm like a real place, and everything there has a physical form to him. The plateau, the lines of lost souls, the many hands that have Quatre, all these things are really happening in the astral plane.)*  
  
Duo paused for a moment, digesting this. *(But what's with the chick? You never answered that.)*  
  
Wufei "sighed." *(I don't know. She could be a separate spirit in the house, but then I would have expected her to contact you or me as well. All things considered, she is a rogue variable.)*  
  
*(But she helped Heero.)*  
  
*(That doesn't mean she's helping ~us~. )*  
  
*(But-)*  
  
*(Things are not always what they seem in the astral plane, and even if she helped ~this~ time, she might not help again. We can't depend on her.)*  
  
*(Yeah, yeah.)* Duo grumbled reluctantly. *(How are we going to help Quatre?)*  
  
*(We're not going to do anything yet.)*  
  
*(What?! But we know what it is now, we could - )*  
  
*(We could ~what~, Duo? Knowing what we're up against is a great step in the right direction, but we still don't know ~how~ to stop it.)*  
  
*(....)* Duo searched for a reason to object and couldn't find one. He let off a psychic ripple of capitulation. *(Point taken.)*  
  
*(I'm going to leave my shield on you. I'll need to use you as an anchor when I probe the entity.)*  
  
*(Is that wise? What if it tries something?)*  
  
*(Then I'll need ~you~ to make sure the shield stays in place until I can get far enough "away" from the entity. Don't worry, though. I have my full strength; you're help most likely won't be needed.)*  
  
*(What should we do in the mean time?)*  
  
*(I think that explaining all this to Heero and Trowa will take some time. And don't forget about my gundam.)*  
  
*(Heh, no problem. Which color paint would you prefer, pink or mauve?)*  
  
*(That isn't even funny, Maxwell. Wish me luck.)*   
  
  
  
  
  
END PART TEN  
  
  
  
  
  
::pokes muses:: What is that? ::gestures to screen::  
  
Thalia, Eros, Psyche: ::look at screen, shrug:: Heck if we know.  
  
-_-;;;  
  
Eros: RRRRRREEEEEEEEVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!  
  
  
  
  



	12. Part Eleven

Author's Note: Konnichiwa miiiiinnaaaaaaaaa!!! ^________^ *sparkle sparkle*  
  
Psyche: Aaaauuuhhhhhhh!! ::sobs:: She's..... cheerful! Wahhhhh!!! ;_;  
  
Thalia: What are you so happy about, dearie?  
  
Weeeellllllll... I just got back from vacation. I got a bunch of fun clothes, a Fushigi Yuugi tape, the third Outlaw Star DVD, and a groovy new CD! ^_^ I'm happyhappyhappyhappyhappy!!! * ^____^ * *sparkle sparkle*  
  
Eros: ::whispering to Thalia:: Psst! You distract her while I hide all the sugar and caffeine.  
  
Thalia: Ryoukai.  
  
Psyche: How ~could~ you go and get all happy?! We're supposed to be writing a weird/horror/angst-ish fic, here!  
  
Weird I can do. * ^_^ * *sparkle sparkle*  
  
Thalia: -_-;; We know.  
  
Eros: ::hiding candy and soda:: I've got a bad feeling...  
  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. Don't sue.   
  
  
  
  
PART ELEVEN  
  
  
  
  
Wufei stretched himself out across the dark astral plane, a thin red cord trailing behind him back to the shield around Duo. He had his "feelers" out, by now used to not having an even remotely human form. Hundreds of red tendrils spread around his core; they waved back and forth as he searched.  
  
* It's out here somewhere. I know it. *  
  
And yet it evaded him. He wriggled his feelers in frustration before sending them farther. The entity was too big to hide. It's energy signature would reveal itself soon. Then, he resolved with grim determination, he'd get Quatre back and retrieve his own body before this got even further out of hand. With both Duo's and Heero's newly-discovered abilities, and neither knowing even how to perform a basic shield, they were at serious risk. And Wufei would ~not~ let this mob of ghosts harm them. He would be strong; he would defeat his enemy.  
  
* Duo, you may have your doubts about my talents, but I shall accomplish at least this much. *  
  
He felt a twinge at the end of one of his roving pseudopod.  
  
*(There!)*  
  
Instantly he transferred his awareness to that point. Just ahead of him the thing writhed and roiled, blacker than the mere absence of light. It was hideous, wrong. Wufei paused out of its range, evaluating what he could sense. Now that he knew something of what he was dealing with, he could detect the nuances between souls. He would have growled, if he'd had vocal cords. He should have realized this sooner. It seemed obvious now.  
  
* But what drew them here? *  
  
He brooded a bit before gathering himself. The answer lay somewhere within the entity, and he wasn't going to be able to find it by sitting and staring at it. He'd have to penetrate it and search. The thought filled him with disgust; the energy it gave off was psychic sludge, the waste emotions of hundreds, maybe thousands, of angry mad souls. It made him wish he could take a long shower and scrub himself clean. But he had no choice. This was the only way.  
  
He hardened a shield around himself, sparing just enough energy to keep the line back to Duo intact, and then dove into the mass. The weak spirits recoiled from him as he passed, a bullet through jello. He felt their shock and anger and ignored it, going deeper. He had surprised them and they didn't have the presence of mind to retaliate, at lest not yet. He sent a pulse of energy out like a bubble around him. The mob was driven back, giving him room to establish himself. When he was grounded by Duo and by his own will, he sent probing tentacles out once again, this time searching for anything abnormal.  
  
* Hah. Looking for abnormalities within an abnormality. *  
  
The spirits were recovering now, pressing themselves up against the bubble, which distorted and stretched. He kept a careful eye on this while he sent more and more veins of his own red energy into the darkness. These in turn split into smaller and smaller veins, into so many that he could feel the entire mass of souls.  
  
* But where's Quatre? *  
  
A particularly ambitious spirit reached for him, its energy surprisingly coherent. Around it, the others began to do the same. The protective energy strained and stretched even more. Wufei rippled with dismay. He could leave just yet. He hadn't found Quatre or any answers. Just a moment more -  
  
The bubble burst.   
  
He didn't even have time to follow the anchor cord out before the sea of dead crashed down on him.  
  
  
  
  
Time runs different in the astral plane. Minutes there are hours, days, maybe even months in the physical. Or just the opposite could happen, hours in the astral plane passing in seconds on the physical. Duo discovered that the former was more likely.  
  
Wufei had been right about it taking a long time to explain to Heero and Trowa what was going on. By the time everyone's curiosity was satisfied, it was dawn. None of them could sleep, so they had breakfast instead. Trowa started his watch over Quatre, looking slightly less worried than before now that he knew something was being done, while Heero and Duo went out to the hangar to get to work on Shenlong.  
  
As hard as it was to concentrate while being surrounded by energy, Duo found himself coping with tasks fairly well. Heero was taking care of cockpit adjustments while he, Duo, soldered the armor where it was damaged. He watched the sparks through a full welding visor and the gloves Heero had been wearing the other day.   
  
Needless to say that it was unbearably hot.   
  
* Welding in the Sahara in protective gear and black clothes. Not fun. * he thought wryly. * Wonder what Wu's up to. *  
  
He could feel the power gathering. It made his skin prickle. He shifted on the suspended scaffold, which was really just an oversized swing, and adjusted his grip on the soldering iron. Whatever Wufei was gearing up for was bound to be big.   
  
* I just hope the baka doesn't do something stupid. * He cought this train of thought and smiled wryly. * Ch'! Like I'm one to talk. *  
  
"Oi! Duo!"  
  
Duo stopped soldering and raised the visor as he twisted to look up at the cockpit.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you have a needle-nose pliers?" Heero asked, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.  
  
"Sure do. You need it?" Duo asked, grinning because he knew he was being difficult.   
  
"Aa." Heero replied, not giving him the satisfaction of being annoyed. He sighed.  
  
"Be right there."  
  
He stowed the soldering iron and peeled the gloves from his sweaty hands before grabbing the pliers from his tool kit. He leapt from the scaffolding and shinnied up to the cockpit with practiced ease. He was just pulling himself onto the boarding platform when the wave of psychic trauma hit.   
  
Three things happened, if not at once then in every close succession. The shield around him popped like a soap bubble. He lost his grip on the platform and started to fall. Heero lunged forward onto his stomach, catching Duo's arm in the nick of time.  
  
"Wufei, you idiot," Duo mumbled through the sudden migraine he had.  
  
  
  
  
The spirits could not break through his shield, no matter how many pressed against it. He was reeling from the recoil of the anchor cord when it'd snapped, and he tried to get his bearings enough to break free from the entity. But there was an inexhaustible supply of ghosts restraining him. He was losing his carefully stored energy faster than he'd anticipated and was no closer to escape than before.  
  
*(STOP STRUGGLING!)* commanded a painfully loud mindvoice of thousands.  
  
He didn't bother to stop or reply. He pulsed his energy again, trying to gain some time. The press of insane spirits was lifted, but the same cohesive, self-contained spirit passed through without even disturbing the reddish membrane. Wufei would have cried out in surprise, and released another pulse of energy to drive this one back. The spirit wasn't even phased.  
  
*(I TOLD YOU TO STOP STRUGGLING!)* Its mindvoice, while still earshattering, was singular. Wufei knew then that this was the source, the leader.   
  
*(Kisama! Where is Quatre?)* he demanded furiously.   
  
*(WITH US. WE ARE KEEPING HIM.)* the spirit said.  
  
*(Like hell you are!)*  
  
*(FOOL. YOU CANNOT DEFEAT US.)*  
  
*(Show me Quatre, now!)*  
  
*(VERY WELL. SEE HOW POWERLESS YOU ARE.)*  
  
The blackness covering the spirit melted away like mist. Wufei looked on with dawning horror as a creature emerged. It was veined with hundreds of colors. There was no way to tell what its base aura was, and at its core was the bright aquamarine of Quatre's life-force. The thing gave an amused ripple.  
  
*(Ancestors preserve us. You're an energy vampire. An eater of souls.)* Wufei realized hollowly, feeling sick.   
  
  
  
  
Heero heaved Duo onto the platform in front of the cockpit. His heart was racing, probably trying to make up for the moment it had stopped when Duo had begun to fall. He took deep breaths and told himself to be calm. The danger was over. He mustn't give himself away.  
  
"What happened?" he asked in what he hoped was a normal tone.  
  
"The shield Wu put on me is gone," Duo grit out, his eyes squeezed shut and his face screwed into a mask of pain. "And Wu is in deep shit. I think whatever he tried to do to the - er - "entity" failed. Spectacularly."  
  
"Sou ka."  
  
"He said before he left that I was supposed to anchor him. Lot of help ~I~ was."  
  
"Hn."  
  
Duo continued to lie on the platform as Heero got up.  
  
"Heero?"  
  
"Aa?" Heero looked down at him uncertainly.  
  
"Could you... um..." he broke off, his face coloring darkly. "This is embarrassing... but, um... I don't think I can walk at the moment, and this is not the most comfortable of places..."  
  
"You want me to carry you?"  
  
".......Um......"  
  
Heero gazed at him for a moment. Duo wouldn't meet his eyes.   
  
* He hates being helpless as much as I do. *  
  
Realizing this, he knew the strength it must have taken for Duo to ask for help. Not that the American would see it as strength... Heero gave a single nod and bent to help Duo up. He put Duo's arms around his shoulders and wrapped his own arm around Duo's waist. He grabbed a safety cable with his free hand. He'd been foregoing the cords after his fall, but now it was the only way to get down.   
  
Fortunately, it held. They touched down somewhat awkwardly; Heero had to compensate like mad to keep them from falling over. Then he lifted Duo off the ground and balanced him carefully over his shoulder, keeping his arm around the slim boy's waist to make sure he didn't drop him.  
  
"Oh man, this is sooooo humiliating. If you tell anyone about this, Heero, I swear I'll - "  
  
"Urusai. No one is going to hold it against you," Heero interrupted gruffly, not knowing what he was trying to convey.  
  
"Still, it's not exactly dignified, and I'm not even unconscious as an excuse." Duo continued glumly as Heero went up the metal staircase to the exit.  
  
"I can knock you unconscious if you want me to," he offered.   
  
"No!" Duo said hurriedly, then paused. "Um... Heero?"  
  
"Aa?"  
  
"Was that a... nah, couldn't a been."  
  
  
  
  
Wufei recoiled from the thing in horror. This was the soul of a psychic who'd died and ~deliberately~ chosen not to cross over. It was a thing that absorbed the souls of others into itself to survive on the astral plane. It was a monster. And it fit, the pieces of the puzzle tumbling into place. It had lured the lost souls here with its innate psychic ability, and then controlled them with it. And whenever it needed an energy boost it would just devour a soul or two. Wufei shuddered, his aura flaring colors of loathing and hate.  
  
*(YES, YOU SEE NOW.)* chuckled the thing.  
  
*(You... you evil creature)* Wufei said, fear for his friends creeping into his heart.  
  
*(NO MORE EVIL THAN YOU. I KILL TO SURVIVE.)*  
  
*(You are already dead. You aren't supposed to survive.)*  
  
All that came in response was a sickening wave of amusement. Wufei rippled uneasily.  
  
*(YET I AM SURVIVING. IF YOU ARE SO WEAK TO LET YOUR LIFE STOP AT DEATH, THEN YOU AREN'T WORTHY OF YOUR GUNDAM.)*  
  
That brought Wufei up short.  
  
*(What? How do you know about the gundams?)*  
  
*(FROM THIS CAPTIVE OF MINE.)*  
  
Wufei watched Quatre's fading core. *(What are you saying?)*  
  
*(I AM ~HIS~ CREATION, GUNDAM PILOT.)* the thing replied, "laughing" as the young psychic broadcast his shock. *(HE DIDN'T KNOW ME, BUT HE KILLED ME. I COULD FEEL HIM AS I DIED. I KNEW HE WAS EASY MEAT.)*  
  
*(What are you talking about?)*  
  
*(I WAS THE BEST IN MY CLASS AT THE ACADEMY. I THOUGHT I COULD TAKE YOU DAMN GUNDAMS DOWN. BUT THE WEAKEST ONE OF YOU KILLED ME.)*  
  
*(You... were an OZ soldier?)*  
  
A bitter wave washed over the incredulous Chinese boy.  
  
*(YES. I AM PSYCHIC AS WELL. I MANAGED TO SAVE MYSELF BY LATCHING ONTO YOUR FRIEND. FROM HIM I LEARNED OF YOU OTHERS. THROUGH HIM I MANIPULATED HIS MISSIONS, HIS MEN.)*  
  
*(What are you talking about?)* Wufei asked, though the beginnings of understanding were already budding in his mind. * Please say I'm wrong. This is just too strange, even for me. *  
  
*(YOU ARE BEING STUPID. WHO DO YOU THINK LET HIM KNOW WHERE TO INTERCEPT THE MOBILE SUIT PARTS? WHO SAVED HIM FROM MISSIONS OF CERTAIN DOOM? I DID. I NEEDED HIM TO SURVIVE, UNTIL I HAD GATHERED ENOUGH MINIONS.)*  
  
Here the energy vampire paused, giving off smug, cruel emotions. *(I LET THEM HAVE HIM FOR A WHILE. IT KEPT THEM AMUSED. NOW I AM FREE TO ABSORB HIS ESSENCE AND TAKE FULL OWNERSHIP OF HIS BODY.)*  
  
*(I see. You had this whole thing planned out. We were your targets, even in death.)* Wufei had met obsessive spirits before, but this was over-the-top.  
  
*(YES. THIS WILL BE OZ'S TRIUMPH. I ONLY WISH THAT TREIZE-SAMA WOULD KNOW OF THIS.)*  
  
*(You're completely insane.)*  
  
*(SILENCE. YOUR COMPANIONS WILL COME AFTER YOU AND THIS ONE. I SHALL BE REVENGED, IN THE NAME OF OZ!)*  
  
  
  
  
END PART ELEVEN  
  
  
  
So, whaddaya think of ~that~? ^_^ Revenge of the OZ red-shirts!  
  
Thalia, Eros, and Psyche: ............O_O;;;..............  
  
Sorry so short, minna-san! Gotta get started on my homework!  
  
Eros: REEEEEVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEWWW!!!!!  
  
  



	13. Part Twelve

Author's Note: Heydee hey, y'all! ^_^  
  
Thalia: Cheerful again?  
  
No, not really.  
  
Psyche: Yaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!! ^__________________^  
  
Eros: Ready for the next chapter?  
  
Yep.  
  
Thalia: You ~are~ planning on wrapping this up soon, aren't you?  
  
Yep.   
  
Thalia, Eros, and Psyche: Finally!  
  
The things I put up with.... ::rolls eyes::  
  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing.  
  
  
  
  
  
PART TWELVE  
  
  
  
  
Trowa watched Quatre intently. The blond boy didn't look well. His hair was greasy and crispy with dried sweat. The blue silk pajamas were sweat-stained and rank-smelling. His cheeks were blotchy from the prolonged fever. His breathing was shallow, and he was deathly pale. Trowa gripped the blond boy's unbandaged hand in both of his own.  
  
* Did you mean it? * he silently asked the pathetic sight before him.  
  
He lifted Quatre's hand and pressed it to his cheek. It was cool. Strange, because ever since he'd been unconscious, he'd been feverish. Now he was cool. The fever had broken, but only just recently. Trowa didn't know how to interpret this. Did it mean Wufei had freed him? Or did it mean he was gone for good?  
  
That would be the cruelest thing, if the angelic boy died before Trowa could tell him.  
  
* I love you. Come back to me, Quatre. *  
  
Footsteps on the stairs startled him into dropping Quatre's hand. He stood as Heero came down to the common room, the American slung over his shoulder. Trowa took it as a sign of how odd his life was getting when he felt no surprise at this. What ~did~ surprise him was that Duo was still conscious, though haggard.  
  
Heero deposited Duo on his couch and wiped his own forehead. Trowa sat back down on an armrest with his arms crossed and waited for them to explain.   
  
  
  
"Wufei's been taken down," Duo told him, correctly interpreting the look on his face.  
  
The tall pilot wilted at hearing this. Duo grimaced in empathy.  
  
"What do we do now?" Trowa asked.  
  
"We go after them," Heero declared.  
  
"Nani?" Duo's eyes widened in surprise.   
  
"It's the only way."  
  
"How do you intend to accomplish this?" Trowa inquired evenly.  
  
"If what Wufei told Duo was accurate, then I can travel to this entity in my sleep. I'll go there and - "  
  
"And what?" Duo interrupted, suddenly angry. Things were happening too quickly. "What ~can~ you do? We don't know what we're fighting. And did you have all that much success the last time you were there?"  
  
Heero was taken slightly aback by the ferocity in Duo's voice.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You said that last time you got trapped by the thing. Only with the combined efforts of the chick in your dream, myself, and Wufei did you get out of there. Have you had any huge revelations that would give you an advantage?" Duo demanded, but didn't wait for Heero to respond. "No. Even the chick said you needed help to defeat this thing."  
  
"Just what are you getting at, Duo?" Trowa interjected.  
  
"If you're going anywhere on the astral plane, you're gonna take me with you." Duo crossed his arms stubbornly and glared at Heero.   
  
"Ryoukai," Heero agreed after a long reluctant pause. Duo nodded once sharply, satisfied.  
  
"But ~how~ do you plan to do this?" Trowa repeated.  
  
"Ummm..." Duo trailed off, thinking. "Well, first Heero has to get there. Have you ever tried going there on purpose?"  
  
"No. But I'm certain I can do it. It's just a matter of controlling my brain-waves."  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You go to sleep and I'll watch you're aura and play it by ear. I seem to know what to do by instinct; that'll have to be enough," Duo said with a shrug. "What I'm worried about is what we do when we get there."  
  
"What're are you afraid of?" Trowa asked, his voice giving away a hint of worry - maybe even fear.  
  
"Wufei said he was back up to full strength before he left to determine what this thing is. I'm betting he found out," Duo replied heavily. "And if it can take Wu down, either killing him or trapping him, it's not your average poltergeist."  
  
"Point taken," Heero said. "But we have no other choice."  
  
"I know," Duo sighed hopelessly. "Doesn't mean I hafta ~like~ it."  
  
"When will you two get started?" Trowa shifted on his armrest to gaze down on Quatre's wretched-looking form. Duo looked from the blonde to the equally-wretched Chinese boy on the other couch.  
  
"Not right away," Heero answered, drawing Duo's attention back to him. When their eyes met, Heero look away. Duo cocked his head.  
  
* What's up with that? *  
  
"I want to finish Wufei's gundam today. Duo, how are you doing with the body work?" the Japanese boy asked.  
  
"Shenlong didn't take as much damage as our gundams, so I got about half of it done," Duo told him in a businesslike manner.   
  
"Trowa, you take care of the rest of the body work while I finish with the cockpit and diagnostics. We'll begin tonight."  
  
Trowa nodded. "Ryoukai."  
  
"Oi! What about me?" Duo called as the other two stood. Heero met his gaze for a moment, then turned toward the stairs.  
  
"You should rest," he said quietly before following Trowa up to the main floor.  
  
Duo frowned. He knew from the pounding inside his skull that he still was recovering from the shock of Wufei's passing. Still, he didn't like being treated like an invalid. He glowered in silence as Heero and Trowa left. He would have preferred to work on Shenlong, if only to take his mind off of everything for a while. The whole situation got worse the more he looked at it.  
  
* Complete and total SNAFU * Duo thought dismally. * And me and Heero are the only hope they have. Why does this seem like a bad idea? *  
  
Maybe it was the way Heero had been acting lately.   
  
* What's going on between us, exactly? * Duo wondered. * And what's with the significant looks and things? God, you'd think we're flirting or something. * Duo chuckled at that - the idea that Heero would ~flirt~ was just too ridiculous. But the laugh was a bit too forceful, too eager to dispel the notion. Perhaps... lurking somewhere in that observation was a hint of truth?   
  
That thought silenced him. He frowned darkly for a moment. Then he shrugged it off, not wanting to face it. His life was already too messed up without something like that.  
  
He was honestly concerned about this evening, though. How ~were~ they going to do this? He didn't like it. Without a strategy, or even an idea of what they were up against, the odds were that they'd fail miserably. Duo turned over restlessly, and then regretted it as his migraine renewed itself. But as much as he wanted to dwell on the likelihood of failure, he knew he needed to sleep to recover at least some of his energy and be of any use tonight. He closed his eyes and fought his way into an uneasy doze.   
  
  
  
  
Wufei tested his boundaries, though he had no doubt that they hadn't changed since he last tested them. The multi-hued rope of the parasite's energy held him fast, and sapped the energy from his shields slowly. The creature had vanished into the blackness of lost souls some time ago to go do God knows what in preparation for the other pilots. Wufei knew that Duo and Heero would try to rescue him and Quatre, though he wished that there was some way - any way - to prevent it.   
  
* The bastard already has two of us. That is more than enough. * he told himself, full of shame. He drew back into himself, rippling in frustration and self-disgust.   
  
Why hadn't he sensed the thing's grip on Quatre from the start? Why hadn't he been able to save his friend? Why couldn't he save them both now? Why couldn't he warn the others? He knew the answer to all the questions; he knew, too well.  
  
* I am weak. *  
  
He'd been weak the day she died, too. Not even pouring most of his life energy into her had saved her. And now because of ~his~ weakness, ~his~ faults, the others were going to pay for it.   
  
*(THAT THEY ARE, GUNDAM PILOT. SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?)* a depressingly familiar mindvoice said.  
  
Wufei recoiled as the energy vampire emerged from the whirling, shadowy depths around him. The repulsive being loomed closer, reaching out many threads of power that wrapped around Wufei's own and drew him near. The contact made the Chinese psychic cringe and pull back, but the grip was too strong. Too strong...  
  
*(THAT'S RIGHT. YOU CAN'T FIGHT ME. NOW, IT'S TIME TO PREPARE TO GREET YOUR FRIENDS.)*  
  
*(Shut up, you piece of shit.)* Wufei snapped, because he knew that he was indeed too drained to fight.  
  
The creature gave wave after wave of madness-tainted laughter as it enveloped him.  
  
  
  
  
Duo woke all in a sweat. He sat up slowly, and scrubbed at his face. His headache was gone, but his foreboding had increased tenfold. Disturbing half-dreams had plagued him in his sleep, and not all of them had to do with the impending mission to the astral plane.   
  
* Don't think about h- it. You don't need it. You can handle this. * he told himself as he got up and crossed the common room. He wanted a shower before Trowa and Heero got back, and now was better than never. He glanced at his watch as he walked down to his room. He'd been asleep for three hours, apparently. He felt all thick and strange, the side effects of taking a long nap in the afternoon. Yawning, he undid his braid when he entered his room and brushed his hair as he gathered soap, towels, and most importantly shampoo and conditioner.  
  
He was fairly certain that water was as valuable in the desert as it had been on his home colony, and had taken it into account. After all, a daily shower wasn't absolutely necessary, and before he had gotten spoiled by the boarding school he and Heero had been hiding out at, he'd considered bathing in general both luxury and frivolity. Now, he smiled ruefully, he'd had to trim his showers back to every three days. Having grown up in a place where water was a limited resource, he knew to how to ration his shower time to be as efficient as possible. He was done in exactly seven minutes, and congratulated himself on cutting his time by a minute and a half.   
  
He dried and braided his hair, then dressed in fresh black clothes. Feeling much more awake and like his normal self - the sense of impending doom included - he flounced upstairs to the kitchen. He was ravenous, having missed lunch. Unfortunately, he had no idea of how to cook. So, with some trepidation, he dug through the huge industrial-sized refrigerator in search of anything edible. He'd just dug out the least questionable left-overs he could find when Trowa walked in.  
  
"Am I glad to see you! You're cooking, tonight, aren't you?" Duo asked with a smile, flinging the container of semi-edible "food" into a nearby garbage. "Make something fast and Italian!"  
  
Trowa raised a weary eyebrow at him. "Feeling better, I see."  
  
"Yep. Now get crackin'. I'm ~starving~!"  
  
"Ryoukai," Trowa replied, brushing past him to the stove.   
  
Duo hovered eagerly around Trowa, as if pestering the European would incite the linguini noodles to cook faster. The taller pilot only tolerated the braided boy underfoot for a few minutes before he lost his frayed temper. Then Trowa quietly but forcefully demanded that Duo remove himself to some other location until dinner was ready. Duo pouted, but left for downstairs again.  
  
Heero was just walking into the common room from the hall to the bedrooms as Duo hopped off the banister. From the Japanese boy's wet and tussled hair, Duo surmised that he'd just gotten out of the shower. He was wearing his green tanktop for the first time since his nosebleed, though how he'd gotten the massive bloodstains out of it Duo didn't know. He sat down on his couch and bent to tie his yellow sneakers.  
  
"So, are you serious about this?" Duo asked, plunking down beside him.  
  
Heero turned his head to look up at him. "Hai. Are you?"  
  
"Of course. But you realize we're probably going to lose."  
  
Heero was silent for a moment, then sat up after he finished with his shoes. "Hai. But we can't not try."  
  
"True."  
  
Duo couldn't think of anything more to say. Heero looked at him with an unreadable expression. He half-smiled and shrugged under the scrutiny. The other boy "hn"ed softly.   
  
Silence fell, heavy, waiting, desperate.   
  
After a painfully long time, during which both boys were lost in their own realms of contemplation, Trowa's voice floated down the stairway.  
  
"The linguini is ready."  
  
Duo jumped up, grinning broadly. "Yosh'! I'm so hungry I could eat a mobile doll. C'mon, Heero!"  
  
Despite Duo's cheer, the dinner had a feel of the last meal. Afterwards, Trowa enlisted the other two for dish duty while he went to take a shower. Heero scrubbed in silence, and Duo tried not to look at him as he babbled aimlessly.   
  
Finally, they all gathered in the common room downstairs. Heero laid down on his couch and slipped into a doze easily. Duo waited for a moment. Then he turned to Trowa.  
  
"Trowa, I have to ask you a favor."  
  
"Nanda?"  
  
"You have a gun?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, if we lose, we're going to get possessed. If that happens, shoot us. Put us in our Gundams and set them all to self-destruct. Can you do that?"   
  
Trowa paused for a very long time.  
  
"Yeah," he said, and his voice was strange.  
  
Duo put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."  
  
  
  
  
END PART TWELVE  
  
  
  
  
Bad place to end, I know, but I've got work to do. ^^;; I sort of kind of have to take notes on seven newspapers tonight still because I have a current events test tomorrow. I dislike government class. _ I promise to continue it soon! Yeah... "soon"...  
  
Eros: REEEEEEEEEVVVVIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!!!  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	14. Part Thirteen

Author's Note: This is the last part of the fic.   
  
Eros and Thalia: YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!   
  
Psyche: Aw nuts!   
  
Sorry for the extreme delay. I've been busy with RL commitments and a whole bunch of crap that you're not really interested in, so never mind!   
  
I'd like to thank all my loyal reviewers. You guys have been the greatest! Special glomps to Daemonchan, who sent me the wonderful piccy of Duo (I'll find a way to put it up on where people can see it... eventually ^^;;;) and to everyone who had this fic on their favorite stories list before FF.net got rebuilt. Shout-outs to: Cherry Blossom, Long de Yunqi, Wildfire, Arabiana, Finny, Mizu-chan (for putting this fic on her page), and everyone else! Sorry, but I wanna get started writing on the fic now. ^^;; I just want everyone to know their reviews have comforted my ego a lot. THANK YOU!   
  
  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own GW. Wanna make sumthin' of it?   
  
  
  
  
PART THIRTEEN   
  
  
  
  
  
The fall through the physical and beyond was somewhat unnerving now that he was paying attention to it. He felt guided, though, and knew that The Girl was behind it. He landed steadily on the hot glaring sand of the astral plane, his sneakers sinking in with a soft grinding sound. He was at the foot of the plateau, camouflaged by the masses of dead people still flocking into the earthen mound. The Girl stood at his side. She tossed her many braids and smiled, her gaze spearing him.   
  
"Your friend is looking for you. Call to him," she commanded. He nodded once in acceptance.   
  
"Duo, I'm ready," Heero said.   
  
  
  
  
*(-----......Duo, I'm ready........-----)*   
  
The unexpected thought shook the braided pilot's concentration. He glared straight at Heero's bright blue aura as the image faded. He cursed mentally. He'd been waiting for half an hour after Trowa had left to get the gun, searching for a hint to whether Heero had made it into the astral plane or not.   
  
* Shoulda been expecting something like that. Like ~Mr. Yuy~ would ever just ~wait~ for me. * he grumbled to himself as he slipped back into psychic mode.   
  
His hazy astral self drifted over to Heero's. He hesitated in touching the other's aura, recalling what had happened when he'd tried that with Wufei. He didn't want to invade Heero's privacy, and he certainly didn't want Heero to see inside ~his~ head. But before he could think of a way around this problem, a thin tendril of white emerged from Heero's aura and latched onto him.   
  
With a discombobulating whirl and the odd sensation of becoming physical while in the astral plane, Duo found himself falling gracelessly onto a pile of sand. He coughed in the dust and stood, brushing at his clothes. He looked around to see Heero standing in front of him. Around them, souls of the dead were willingly enveloped by a growing mountain of sand. Duo watched with some confusion, because he could see both the astral black of the souls and the macabre parade of bodies. Heero seemed to shimmer and radiate a bluish light, with odd white spikes flaring now and again.   
  
Duo noticed the absence of the girl that Heero had told him of. Wufei had been right; she couldn't be depended on. He frowned, realizing that this would probably make things more difficult.   
  
Heero looked back at him resolutely. "Are you all right?"   
  
"Yeah. Some dreamscape you got here," he replied, indicating the lines of dead people around him.   
  
"You ready?"   
  
"Yeah. Where are we going?"   
  
"To the top of the plateau. That's where I saw Quatre last," the other boy said, turning and beginning to climb the steep slope. Duo followed with trepidation, hoping he wouldn't sink into the side like all the dead spirits were.   
  
He was winded and sweating profusely by the time they reached the top. He spat gritty saliva from his mouth, and came to stand at Heero's side. They stared at the barren plateau top as wind kicked stinging gusts at them. Duo frowned. He hadn't expected the astral plane to have such realistic annoyances.   
  
"What now?" he asked. When Heero merely shrugged, Duo cupped his hands around his mouth. "WEEEEEEE'RE HEEEEEEEEEEERE! COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!"   
  
The Japanese pilot looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, and he answered with a half-smile and shrug. Heero looked pained.   
  
For a long, long moment, nothing happened. Then the stiff wind slowed, and stopped completely. Eerie silence fell. Suddenly, the wind picked up again, whirling around them. Ghostly whispers echoed across the plateau-top, maddeningly unintelligible. They watched the emptiness around them suspiciously, tensing in preparation. Duo's nerves tingled furiously under the intense evil energy built around them. His skin crawled as the unseen, unholy waves crested.   
  
As they crashed, the air in front of the two boys shimmered like film on a tar bubble. It swirled, coalescing and taking shape. Distorted limbs appeared, legs oozing to touch the ground and arms hanging gelatinously from a lopsided torso. A head formed, rearing up from the thing's back. Whatever Duo had expected, this wasn't it. The creature had dripping holes in it's gooey face, a disgusting parody of eyes. Its mouth slid sideways as it began to speak in a voice like that of hundreds of people's merged into one, dissonant.   
  
"WELCOME," it said. "GUNDAM PILOTS."   
  
"Who are you? How do you know what we are?" Heero demanded harshly.   
  
"I KNOW A LOT ABOUT YOU," the thing replied evasively. Its mouth disappeared completely for a moment before reappearing in its original position. "I KNOW YOU ARE HERE FOR YOUR FRIENDS."   
  
"What have you done with them?" Heero asked.   
  
"THEY'RE IN ME," the thing said, giving a horrible gurgling chuckle.   
  
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Duo broke in, trying to mask his alarm. Were they too late to save them?   
  
The thing's empty eye sockets slid to the side of its head to peer at him. Duo refused to blanch, and glared as hard as he could.   
  
"I MEAN, THEIR LIFE-ENERGY IS MINE. THEY ARE FUELING ME," it said, the mouth twisting into a wide gaping grin. "I ALMOST HAD ALL OF YOUR LIFE-ENERGIES, BUT YOU TWO HAVE EVADED ME SOMEHOW. YOU WILL NOT DO SO THIS TIME"   
  
With a movement so fast Duo couldn't follow it, two oozing globs flung out from the thing's abdomen, trailing web-like threads behind. Each hit one of them just under the chin. Duo shouted in shock, his hands going up automatically to clutch at the substance. It burned and stung his hands. The slick pseudopod curled and morphed around his wrists as it tightened around his throat. His flesh burned and rippled beneath the coating of black; he tried to break free, twisting madly. He caught glimpses of the thing grinning and of Heero clawing desperately at his throat. His face was contorted with pain and an expression that Duo had never seen there before. Fear.   
  
* Oh shit! Heero's gonna die! I gotta - gotta- * he told himself mentally, but he could only feel the pain. He couldn't get past the horrible feeling of liquefying skin and bone and ~soul~...   
  
Then he felt power growing around Heero, tense and crackling. It snapped, and white lightning flicked out from Heero's aura. It struck the creature, which howled, and the threads connecting it to Heero vanished abruptly. The oily ethereal substance evaporated into a foul-smelling smoke. Heero fell to his knees, panting heavily and rubbing his neck.   
  
The creature shrieked its rage. It bubbled grotesquely, its mouth sliding down to its sunken chest before reappearing on its head. It foamed at the eyes and mouth as it focused its fury on Heero. Its strangle-hold on Duo relaxed. Duo's head swam with a mixture of relief and pain, for it hadn't released him completely.   
  
"WHAT WAS ~THAT~?" the thing bellowed, rippling with the force of its own cry.   
  
Heero jerked as if startled, then seemed to come back to himself. He rose to meet the horrible amorphous being's gaze defiantly.   
  
"WHAT SORT OF ENERGY WAS THAT?" it shouted, its legs flowing forward as it approached.   
  
"Our sort," Heero told it sullenly, his eyes coming to rest on his partner. "Release Duo. Now."   
  
It laughed, its fury gone with startling rapidity. Heero glared in confusion, and Duo didn't blame him.   
  
"YOUR INSOLENCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED MUCH LONGER. I'VE NEVER TASTED ENERGY LIKE YOURS BEFORE; IT IS A DELICACY INDEED," it said. "I WILL POSSESS IT."   
  
"Not bloody likely," Duo croaked, and the glob around his neck tightened again, making him choke.   
  
"YOU CANNOT FIGHT ME," it insisted. "HERE I AM OMNIPOTENT."   
  
"Then how come you haven't taken us down by now?" Heero challenged.   
  
It growled gurglingly at him. "YOU ARE AN AMUSING DIVERSION."   
  
The thing sent a thick, heavy ripple along the rope of ethereal sludge that was attached to Duo. When it drew near the American's face, it morphed, taking form. The face of the thing leered at him from mere inches in front of his face. The smell of death and carrion, of carnage and evil emanated from it's mouth as it laughed. Duo jerked away, but it stretched with him. It drew closer still.   
  
"TOO EASY," it said as the black ooze spread over Duo's face, muffling his choked cry.   
  
  
  
  
Wufei and Quatre curled together deep within the heart of the energy vampire. Their auras pulsed in tandem as they were squeezed for energy. Wufei tried to cover for Quatre as much as he could; the other boy's aura was so dangerously faded that he couldn't give much more energy without dispersing entirely.   
  
Around them the entity shuddered, then contracted especially hard. When finally it released, even Wufei was left feeling wavery and wan.   
  
"(Wufei? What's going on?)* Quatre asked. His mindvoice was faint and tired.   
  
*(I don't know.)* he replied as gently as he could through the tension he felt.   
  
*(Do you think we're going to die?)*   
  
*(....Yes....)*   
  
*(I - I don't. I think... the others, when they come, can beat this thing. They are incredibly strong as a team.....)*   
  
Wufei remained silent, not knowing how to tell Quatre the true danger of the situation. He knew as well as Quatre that Heero and Duo could be strong enough to defeat the creature, if they got lured to it. But if they ~did~ manage to destroy it, the fact was that he and Quatre could likely be destroyed right along with it. That, or the creature would use them up completely before Duo and Heero triumphed.   
  
*(Don't worry about that, Wufei.)* Quatre said.   
  
Wufei was surprised. He'd thought that he was shielding his thoughts from Quatre.   
  
*(You are, but I'm not like a psychic. I can... I don't know, sort of feel ~through~ shields, sometimes.)* Quatre explained. *(And I know you're more experienced, so your worries are probably well-founded. But you should have faith in Duo and Heero. They'll find a way to save us - before it's too late.)*   
  
Wufei paused, assimilating this. Then he sent a grateful ripple to Quatre, who returned a comforting one.   
  
*(You're right.)*   
  
Suddenly, the pressure on Wufei slackened, alerting him to a change within the entity. It hadn't weakened; he could tell as he tested the energy vampire's hold on him. If anything, it had grown stronger. This could only mean one thing.   
  
*(It's taken one of them.)*   
  
*(Who is it, Wufei?)* Quatre asked.   
  
Wufei could ill afford to reach out his antanae because both he and Quatre were running out of energy to spare, but he tried his best.   
  
*(Hello?)* he called.   
  
*(Wu-man? Izzat you?)* came a wisp of Duo's voice, sounding as if he was speaking through a wall.   
  
*(Yes. What's going on, Duo?)* the Chinese boy asked without preamble.   
  
*(Well... Heero an' I are in the astral plane, and I just got my ass kicked by whatever the hell this thing is. Heero's little girlfriend didn't show this time, so he's all alone back there.)* Duo said, giving the impression that he was grimacing as his mental voice became clearer.   
  
*(It's called an energy vampire. So Heero is defenseless?)* Wufei's heart sank.   
  
*(Not exactly ~defenseless~... He's been shooting lightning at the "energy vampire." You know, it looks different from the inside. Lots of colors, ya know?)* Duo didn't wait for an answer. *(Quatre?)*   
  
*(I'm here, Duo.)* Quatre said weakly.   
  
*(You okay, Q-ball?)*   
  
*(Yeah, for the most part.)*   
  
*(Glad to hear it.)*   
  
*(Can we save the reunion for later?)* Wufei snapped, feeling a sense of urgency.   
  
*(Why? We're going to be here for a while. I mean, if you'd had a way out, you would have taken it already.)* Duo replied easily. *(So, unless you've had any new revelations, I'd say we're all pretty much stuck here.)*   
  
Conversation was brought to a halt then, as the multicolored prison contracted around them, squeezing energy from them mercilessly.   
  
* It's gonna need all of the energy it can get if it's fighting Heero... * Duo thought with grim satisfaction.   
  
  
  
Heero didn't even waste the time to call out Duo's name. He charged forward and struck the thing's squashy head. The Girl, who hadn't left his side since he'd arrived, shot power into it, and its head split around his fist. It's slick black body oozed quickly oozed across the web-like strand to wrap around Duo, until only the boy's braid poked out slightly.   
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" it demanded, sounding totally surprised that he'd retaliated.   
  
"Release my friends. All of them," Heero said, feeling the Girl come to stand directly behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders. His muscles suddenly became electrified, strengthened. He strode purposefully toward the thing, determined to retrieve Duo.   
  
The astral being tried to stop him, shooting numerous pseudopod at him. He was forced to dodge and roll, and as he did so, the thing tripled in size, getting thicker and more viscous. It reared up into a column of black ichor, not even vaguely humanoid now. Its only feature was a huge, wide mouth, which laughed boomingly from twelve feet above Heero's head. It sent a thick tentacle twisting at him, but he dodged again, and again as another flew toward his head, and another swiped at his midsection. It was childishly easy; the thing was slow when it was this large.   
  
Heero saw an opening and darted in close to the thing's body. He felt the Girl's power rush through his arms as he grabbed onto the only part of Duo he could: the long chestnut braid. Unfortunately, the thing expanded itself further, enveloping the braid ~and~ Heero's forearms. It laughed again, madly, bending far over so its lips were level with his eyes.   
  
"YOU FOOL! YOU MIGHT'VE LASTED LONGER IF YOU HADN'T TRIED TO HELP HIM," it pointed out. "NO MATTER NOW, THOUGH. I'VE WON."   
  
The Girl leaned in closer and slid her hands from his shoulders down his arms. He felt the flow of energy through him. The creature stopped its mad laughter when bands of white energy like electricity snaked around it. The grip of the goo loosened considerably and the entity sagged as if deflated.   
  
"Pull them out. Quickly," the Girl urged breathlessly in his ear.   
  
"Ryoukai," he responded automatically, already pulling with all his might. He had to lean far back, bracing himself on the sandy ground until he was almost horizontal. Slowly, the his hand emerged, holding the braid. He joined his free hand to it and redoubled his efforts.   
  
  
  
*(Ow!)* Duo said suddenly.   
  
*(What is it?)* Quatre inquired anxiously.   
  
*(Something's - ow! - pulling on my braid.)*   
  
Wufei perked up in startlement. *(You're joking.)*   
  
*(I am not! I think it's Heero! I recognize this energy!)* Duo's voice was getting a bit muffled again. There were odd static-like crackles across his voice. *(You guys, latch onto me. Quickly, before I'm too far away!)*   
  
Wufei and Quatre wasted no time in mingling their auras with his. They felt the tugging and the odd unfamiliar tingle, too, and tried to help, straining with it, trying to break free. Slowly, very slowly, they began to move.   
  
  
  
Heero was no weakling, but his strongest efforts had yielded little results. His muscles ached, his were chapped and bleeding from panting in the dry desert air, and still only the braid was visible.   
  
"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" bellowed the thing deafeningly. "I SHALL POSSESS ALL OF YOU!"   
  
"N-no," Heero huffed, but he realized that this way wouldn't work. He didn't dare stop until he could think of a better plan.   
  
The thing had recoiled from his fist when he'd hit it and the Girl had sent energy directly into it. Maybe... It was a gamble. If this didn't work, then there wouldn't be another chance. But it seemed the only choice.   
  
* Ryoukai. * he thought.   
  
Without pausing to consider further, he dove straight into the side of the creature.   
  
  
  
Sliding through impossible depths, arms that weren't solid anymore spread wide, searching, searching -   
  
Finding!   
  
He wrapped his arms around the tangle of indigo, red, and aquamarine, adding his own blue. He was drowned in a sea of memories, thoughts, emotions that weren't all his own, overwhelming his senses, making him forget what he was supposed to do now...   
  
The Girl's white lightning washed out the colors.   
  
  
  
Four boys fell nine feet to land in a heap on the ground. For a moment, shock reigned. Then their instincts kicked in. They disentangled themselves from one another and leapt to their feet. The energy vampire writhed a few yards away, shrieking and howling. Electricity snaked around it still, and it shrank as they watched. Quatre staggered and Duo caught him before he could fall.   
  
"What do we do now?" Duo asked.   
  
"We wake up," Wufei responded, swaying on his feet. Heero reached out an arm and steadied him.   
  
"I'm so happy," Quatre sighed, leaning heavily against Duo. He sighed and closed his eyes. Slowly, he faded away.   
  
"Huh?" Duo said intelligently.   
  
"Just wait. I'll wake you when I get back," Wufei promised. Then he too relaxed and faded. As soon as he was gone, Heero came to stand directly next to Duo.   
  
"Is it over, then?" Duo asked frowning in confusion.   
  
"Hai."   
  
"But it's still alive - I mean, it's still here," he said, gesturing at the miserable form.   
  
"Not for long, I think. The Girl destroyed most of its energy," Heero told him.   
  
Duo looked sharply at Heero. "Ya know, I've been wondering. Where is she? I haven't seen her anywhere."   
  
Heero's eyebrows raised. "She was here the entire time. She's the one who shocked that thing."   
  
Duo shook his head solemnly. "I was watching the entire time, Heero. It was all you. There was no girl."   
  
They stared at each other for a long, confused moment, dusty wind ruffling their hair. Then Duo was gone.   
  
Heero turned to look where he knew the Girl would be. She smirked playfully at him and blew him a kiss. The desert faded away.   
  
  
  
  
He woke quickly, but his head was groggy and he felt very comfortable for some reason. Warm, safe. He'd never felt safe before. He sighed deeply and relaxed, wanting to fall back asleep.   
  
"Uh... Heero? Buddy?" Duo said, sounding just as groggy and drowsy as he felt. That probably wasn't so odd, but what ~was~ odd was that Heero felt the vibrations from the American's voice on his cheek.   
  
Heero's eyes shot open. He had his head resting on Duo's chest, and his hands clutched at the boy's priest-like shirt. He felt Duo's arms around his waist, and their legs twined together as well. He could feel Duo's heartbeat against his chest, Duo's breath down his neck. He was so mortified, he found he couldn't speak, couldn't even jerk away.   
  
"Heero?" Duo asked, sounding more urgent, worried. "Heero, wake up!"   
  
"I-I'm awake," he managed to say quietly. His muscles still wouldn't obey his commands.   
  
Duo sighed in relief. "Good. I'd hate to have to drag your ass back here."   
  
"Hn," he replied, confusion mounting. Why wasn't Duo making an effort to untangle himself?   
  
"Oi! You two!" called Wufei's irritated voice. "Care to join the rest of us? I think we'd better get the whole story told before the details fade, and they ~will~ fade if you don't hurry up."   
  
Duo groaned in displeasure. Heero felt the sound, and it sent a shiver down his spine. Despite the odd tingling, he finally found the strength to move. He pulled free of Duo's arms and rolled off the couch, then headed over to Quatre's couch, where the other three were congregated. He noted that Trowa was clasping Quatre's good hand in one of his. The pilot of Wing sat down next to Wufei on the floor, and Duo quickly sat on Heero's other side. He couldn't help but notice how their thighs brushed together.   
  
"Now," Wufei began, bringing welcomed distraction. "I think you have some explaining to do."   
  
"Brother, you got ~no~ idea," Duo said.   
  
  
  
  
END PART THIRTEEN   
  
  
  
  
Continued directly in the next chapter. ^_^


	15. Epilogue

EPILOGUE   
  
  
  
  
After some understandable confusion, everything had been explained. The boys now sat in a circle on the floor, thinking in silence. Quatre and Trowa kept shooting looks at each other when they thought no one else was looking; of course, the other three knew anyhow. Duo hid a smile behind his hand.   
  
"What I don't get, though," he began, partly to draw Wufei's and Heero's attention away from the unconsummated couple. "Is what the hell was going on with Heero's vision-girl. You got any theories, Wu?"   
  
"Oh, you hadn't figured it out yet?" Wufei asked in genuine surprise.   
  
Duo suddenly felt thick. "Uh... no."   
  
"She's a spirit guide, I think," Wufei told him. "At least, that's what I gathered. It explains why only Heero could see her, and why her energy mingled with his - "   
  
"Wait," Heero interrupted. "Why does it explain all that?"   
  
"Gomen nasai," Wufei apologized. "I still forget how much you all have to learn. A spirit guide is a spirit that attaches itself to a living person in order to experience life vicariously through that person. It's not like an energy vampire, though," he said as Duo opened his mouth. "It's a symbiotic relationship. The host provides the link to the physical world, and the spirit guide shields and protects the host from astral beings that would harm it. They have been known to open their host to the astral plane, which I think is the reason Heero had dreams on the astral plane.   
  
"Unfortunately, not much is known about ~how~ people acquire spirit guides. Also, they seem to have incredibly vast amounts of energy at their disposal, more so than would be warranted most other single-spirit entities," Wufei finished.   
  
"Then why didn't it use its power until the very end?" Duo wanted to know.   
  
Wufei shrugged. "Who knows? Perhaps it was waiting until Heero was ready."   
  
There was a brief pause.   
  
"So... Heero's got a guardian angel?" Duo asked quietly.   
  
"Well... Yes, in a way," Wufei said.   
  
Both Duo and Heero lapsed into thoughtful silence again.   
  
As they had talked, Trowa and Quatre had walked off together, presumably to talk things over privately. Wufei soon made his excuses, mumbling something about needing a shower before he ran off towards the private rooms. This obviously left Duo and Heero alone. Together.   
  
Duo glanced at Heero out of the corner of his eye. He'd... felt something, when Heero had mingled with them all in the process of rescuing them. He'd felt... something more than affection, which had been directed at him. He hadn't been sure whose emotion it was, because of the confusion of the moment. Now, though, it seemed that Heero was the only one it could possibly have been. Duo had been inside Wufei's head before; he knew the Chinese boy didn't harbor that feeling for him. And Quatre was obviously enamored of Trowa, so that took ~him~ out of the running. So it could only be Heero.   
  
* But... Can I be sure? I was pretty out of it, right then. And Wu said that the details would fade... * he thought, biting the inside of his cheek absently as he did so. * But then, how do you explain the whole waking up thing... he didn't pull away, or even tell me to back off or something... But it's ~Heero~...*   
  
* Do I feel the same? *   
  
He blinked and leaned back, bracing himself on his elbows. He didn't know. Sure, he liked the guy, but did he ~like~ him?   
  
He looked at Heero again, memorizing the way his messy brown hair hung just so over his cobalt-colored eyes, the firm set to the jaw, the lines of his wiry arms as they wrapped around his bent, spandex-clad legs. He even noted the smooth, deep breaths Heero took.   
  
He couldn't stop himself. He leaned over and awkwardly rested his head against Heero's. Knowing this action should prabably be justified, he quietly said, "Thanks for saving us back there."   
  
Heero thought a long time, feeling hot and cold and confused. He didn't know what Duo was doing, didn't know if the other knew how he was affected by the unaccustomed warmth at his side. The Japanese boy made no move to pull away, even when Duo tentatively wrapped his arm around his waist. Heero felt a slight flush wanting to tint his face, but he supressed it. He also relaxed slightly, leaning up against Duo in return. He didn't know what this was, but he was willing to take it anyway.   
  
"No problem," he replied.   
  
  
  
  
  
The energy vampire was seriously weakened after losing its main sources of power. It had grown used the to surplus of vibrant, living energy. The energy of the dead was pale and wan compared to it, like substituting aspirin for heroin. The unholy creature was going through advanced withdrawal. The wounds inflicted upon it by the one pilot were truly devastating in and of themselves, as well.   
  
* if i use more souls, i'll become powerful again.* it thought through a haze of weakness. It turned its multi-hued attention to the mass of lost spirits. Even they had diminished; without its power to hold them, they slipped through to the other side.   
  
But something was different now. The souls shifted and teemed, not responding to the entity's commands. They were angry. It had promised them a body, a life. They had not received either. Just suffering and pain as they followed its bidding.   
  
*(no no you fools leave me be)* it thought at them. When it became clear that they wouldn't listen, it knew it was too weak to fight.   
  
* i must flee, i must - *   
  
A mass of many hundreds of souls surrounded it on all sides. It fought weakly against them, but they had learned to be ruthless when it had controlled them. Even the energy vampire couldn't hold its own against the horde. They made short work of taking back the energy they had lost. There was no trace of the sinister creature left when the last soul crossed over.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
END   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well? What did you all think? ::threateningly:: Tell me!   
  
Eros and Thalia: It's done! It's done! It's doooooooooooone!!! ^_________^   
  
Psyche: Wah! No more angst! ;_;   
  
Minna-san, you have to review! Please?   
  
Eros: RRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!!!!!


End file.
